Photo: Amuzujoe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Business insurance in Ghana
The covers the law requires
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Compulsory insurances under the Insurance Act
| Insurance | Who must hold it | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Public liability | Office spaces, banks, shopping malls, factories, hospitals, others set by Regulations | 214–215 |
| Professional indemnity | Employers of accountants, medical doctors, insurance practitioners, lawyers, financial and investment analysts | 216–217 |
| Commercial building | Builders, owners and occupiers of office spaces, shopping malls, factories, hospitals | 218–219 |
| Marine (imports) | Anyone importing goods other than personal effects, with an insurer licensed in Ghana | 222 |
| Motor third-party | Persons covered by the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act, 1958 | 255(3), Second Schedule |
From sections 214 to 222 and the Second Schedule of the Insurance Act, 2021. Each is an offence if missing (fine, imprisonment or both). Public liability cover must indemnify bodily injury or property damage to others arising from the business and the legal costs of defending a claim (section 215). A letter of credit for imports opened in Ghana must be on cost, insurance and freight terms, with the insurance taken from an insurer licensed in Ghana (section 222(3)).
Your staff: work injuries and NHIS
Under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1987, an employer is liable to compensate an employee injured by an accident arising out of and in the course of employment, and pays the medical expenses (sections 2 and 4). Amounts: workmen's compensation and the calculator.
Under section 27(12) of the National Health Insurance Act, an employer must ensure each employee is registered with the NHIS, on pain of a fine of up to 200 penalty units per employee not registered.
Other covers businesses buy
The NIC lists commercial fire insurance (property damage, assets all risks, business interruption), engineering insurance (contractors' all risks, erection all risks, machinery breakdown, boiler and pressure plant, electronic equipment), general accident (personal and group accident) and liability insurance (public, product, employer-related, professional) (NIC insurance products).
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Frequently asked questions
Is public liability insurance compulsory in Ghana?
Yes, for the places in the Second Schedule of the Insurance Act, 2021: office spaces, banks, shopping malls, factories, hospitals and others specified by Regulations (section 214).
Who needs professional indemnity insurance in Ghana?
Employers of accountants, medical doctors, insurance practitioners, lawyers and financial and investment analysts must insure them (section 216 and Second Schedule).
Must imported goods be insured in Ghana?
Yes. Section 222 requires anyone importing goods other than personal effects to insure them with an insurer licensed in Ghana.
Sources
- Insurance Act, 2021 (Act 1061) — National Insurance Commission copy (Gazette notification 5 January 2021)
- Workmen's Compensation Act, 1987 (P.N.D.C.L. 187), revised edition — Parliament of Ghana repository
- National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852) — NHIA copy (Web Archive copy of 25 May 2025)
- NIC — Insurance products: generic descriptions of the classes sold in Ghana