It has come out that Ghana paid an enormous amount of $68,000 (approximately ¢481K) to the Dubai government for the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, to be lighted up.

Recently , images emerged from President Akufo-Addo’s official visit to Dubai where the Burj Khalifa was lighted up as a token of welcome by the Emirati government.

Many had argued that it was a free gesture that was rendered by the Emirati government free-of-charge to Ghana.

However, numerous checks have divulged that the Burj Khalifa is a huge advertising platform in Dubai where companies and nations pay huge amounts for it to be lighted to represent their colours.

The ArabiaBusiness.com reports;

According to the marketing agency in charge of the lighting displays, the cost of placing a promotional advertisement or message on the Burj Khalifa’s façade starts at AED250,000 ($68,073) for a single three-minute display.

Prices start at AED250,000 for three minutes between 8 and 10 p.m. on weekdays and rise to AED350,000 on weekends. AED500,000 gets you two three-minute impressions any night between 8 pm and 10 pm, and AED1 million gets you five three-minute impressions any night between 7 pm and midnight.

The displays are overseen by Mullen Lowe MENA, a Dubai-based marketing agency, and content must be submitted four weeks prior to the promotion’s launch in order to be approved by Burj Khalifa owner Emaar Properties.

Music can be added to the display, however, the video cannot be synchronised with the Dubai Fountains, and full payment (excluding VAT) must be made in advance, according to the media pack for the façade promos.

High-profile campaigns like as Noon.com, Cartier, Huawei, and, most recently, Walt Disney used the world’s tallest tower’s façade to advertise The Lion King and Avengers: Endgame films.