Ghana’s medical devices market to grow to GHS 742.6m by 2026

Ghana’s medical devices market to grow to GHS 742.6m by 2026

Ghana’s medical devices market is expected to recover from the Covid-induced slowdown and grow by 12.2% by 2026.

According to Fitch Solutions, the market is expected to increase in value to GHS 742.6m in the next four years.

Assessing the country’s medical devices market, Fitch Solutions asserts the anticipated growth in the market will be supported by increasing public health expenditure, particularly investments in hospital infrastructure projects by the government.

“We have maintained our forecast CAGR and expect Ghana’s medical device market to register a 2021-2026 CAGR of 12.2% in local currency terms and 9.2% in US dollar terms, which will take expenditure to GHS742.6mn (USD110.7mn) by 2026. Growth in the market will be supported by an economic rebound from Covid-induced slowdown in 2020.

“Increasing public health expenditure, particularly investments in hospital infrastructure projects, will further accelerate growth in the medical device market. Over our forecast period, orthopaedic and prosthetics followed by patient aids will be the fastest-growing markets, posting double-digit growth,” it stated.

Downside risks to the projected growth in the medical devices market, Fitch Solutions notes, include, rising inflationary pressures and the weakening of the local currency.

The research agency posits that, a weakening cedi and inflationary pressures will put pressure on medical device imports and consumption.

Adding that, Ghana’s medical device market remains heavily reliant on imports with domestic production limited and confined to low tech-products.

Further asserting the weakness of the cedi is likely to cause the market to underperform in the short to medium term.

“As of 2019, the country imported 86.6% of its total medical devices, with more than 60% of these imports coming from Burkina Faso, Italy and Niger.

“Since the beginning of 2022, the cedi has lost roughly 20% in value against the US dollar. We believe that Ghana’s currency weakness will create headwinds for medical device imports, causing the market to underperform in the short term and most likely in the medium term if the currency depreciation continues,” it added.

Medical Device Imports By Product Area, USD ‘000s (2015-2019)

Read below details of Fitch Solutions assessment of Ghana’s medical device market

New Health Infrastructure Project Bodes Well For Ghana’s Medical Device Market But Inflation Headwinds Persist

Key View 

• Ghana’s medical devices market will record a consistent recovery from 2022 onwards.
• A weakening of Ghana’s cedi will put pressures on medical device imports and consumption.
• Despite these headwinds, increasing public expenditure, particularly investments in hospital infrastructure projects, will revamp growth in the medical device market in the medium term. 

Ghana’s medical devices market will record consistent recovery from 2022 onwards. We have maintained our forecast CAGR and expect Ghana’s medical device market to register a 2021-2026 CAGR of 12.2% in local currency terms and 9.2% in US dollar terms, which will take expenditure to GHS742.6mn (USD110.7mn) by 2026. Growth in the market will be supported by an economic rebound from Covid-induced slowdown in 2020.

Increasing public health expenditure, particularly investments in hospital infrastructure projects, will further accelerate growth in the medical device market. Over our forecast period, orthopaedic and prosthetics followed by patient aids will be the fastest-growing markets, posting double-digit growth.

The downside risks to our growth forecasts include current rising inflationary pressures fueling elevated commodity prices and weakening of Ghana’s cedi.

Ghana’s Medical Device Market To Maintain Strong Growth

Ghana – Medical Devices Market, GHSmn (2016-2026)

e/f = Fitch Solutions estimate/forecast. Source: National Statistics, Fitch Solutions

A weakening of Ghana’s cedi will put pressures on medical device imports and consumption. Ghana’s medical device market remains heavily reliant on imports, with domestic production only limited and confined to low-tech products.

As of 2019, the country imported 86.6% of its total medical devices, with more than 60% of these imports coming from Burkina Faso, Italy and Niger.

Since the beginning of 2022, the cedi has lost roughly 20% in value against the US dollar. We believe that Ghana’s currency weakness will create headwinds for medical device imports, causing the market to underperform in the short term and most likely in the medium term if the currency depreciation continues.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, consumer price inflation has been rising since early 2022, reaching 23.6% y-o-y in April, which is the highest rate since January 2004.

Inflationary pressures are mostly driven by elevated transport and food prices, which increased by 33.5% and 26.6% y-o-y respectively in April, squeezing the purchasing power of households.

We believe that consumer price fluctuations will also affect Ghana’s medical devices private consumption, given that private health expenditure accounts for close to 49% of total health expenditure in the country.

Downward pressures on private consumption will be exacerbated by a 1.5% tax increase on electronic payments that was recently implemented by Ghanaian government as part of its fiscal consolidation measures.