All African passport holders are now able to visit Ghana without needing a visa, outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo has said.

He announced the plan last month but in his final state-of-the-nation address on Friday he said that the policy had come into effect at the beginning of the year.

Visa-free travel within the continent has long been an aspiration for those promoting pan-African values and is seen as vital for economic cooperation.

Ghana is now the fifth African country to offer this to travellers from the rest of the continent.

Rwanda, Seychelles, The Gambia and Benin are the others.

"I am proud to have approved visa-free travel to Ghana for all African passport holders, with effect from the beginning of this year," Akufo-Addo told lawmakers in his last address to parliament before he steps down next week after eight years in office.

"This is the logical next step to the African Continental Free Trade Area and the workings of the largest trading bloc in the world," he said referring to the zone that came into effect four years ago.

In an annual African ranking of visa-openness, Ghana was placed fifth last year as it already offered visa-free travel to citizens of 26 continental countries.

Ghana in recent years has been promoting itself as a destination for people from the continent and the African diaspora to visit. In 2019, Akufo-Addo launched the Year of Return - an initiative to encourage those with African roots to invest in the country.

The president used his last state-of-the-nation speech to review his two terms in power.

Despite him overseeing tough economic times for most Ghanaians, he said that "growth has returned to the pre-Covid trajectory" adding that he leaves behind a country "that is thriving".

Having served two terms already, Akufo-Addo was unable to run for re-election last month. But the man his party chose to succeed him, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, lost by a large margin to John Mahama.

Mahama is due to be sworn in on Tuesday.