Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he will not approve an anti-gay law until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality.
The Treasury Department previously warned that billions of dollars in World Bank funding could be lost if the legislation becomes law.
The bill, passed by MPs last week, would impose up to three years in prison for identifying as LGBTQ+ and up to five years for promoting that movement.
The Supreme Court challengers said there was no quorum to pass the bill.
Homosexual sex is already a criminal offence in Ghana, punishable by three years in prison.
The proposed tough new law, the Decent Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill of Ghana, is supported by both of Ghana’s major political parties.
However, Richard Della Sky, the lawyer who filed the petition with the Supreme Court, said there were not enough members in the chamber at the time of the vote.
According to parliamentary rules, at least half of Ghana’s 275 members must be present in Parliament and vote on bills submitted to the President for signature.
Ghanaian media have not reported how many MPs participated in last Wednesday’s vote.
The bill has been widely condemned by the UK and US, with human rights groups describing it as regressive.
President Akufo-Addo has previously said that he would sign the bill if the majority of Ghanaians wanted it.
But he is now trying to reassure the diplomatic community that Ghana is committed to defending human rights.
He said the bill “raised considerable anxieties in certain quarters of the diplomatic community and amongst some friends of Ghana” that the country may be “turning her back on her, hitherto, enviable, longstanding record on human rights observance and attachment to the rule of law”.
“I want to assure you that no such back-sliding will be contemplated or occasioned,” he added.
On Monday, the country’s finance ministry said Ghana could lose a total of $3.8 billion (£3 billion) in World Bank funding over the next five to six years.
Ghana is suffering from a severe economic crisis and received a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year.
The Supreme Court is unlikely to rule on the case before the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December.
Some earlier lawsuits brought by human rights groups to block the bill were not heard before the vote.
Ghanaians will vote for a new president in an election as Mr Akufo-Addo steps down at the end of his two terms.