Boosting Ghana’s Industry for Sustained Growth

Ghana's economic growth has been rapid since the start of the new millennium, reaching 14% in 2011, but economic performance has been relatively lower since then, particularly from 2013-2016. Important factors for the slowing of development are the huge infrastructural deficit and the limited fiscal space, but Ghana has the potential for improvement thanks to its large natural resource deposits.

The country has historically relied on the extraction of these abundant resources for economic and social development, and global business attention has focused on several sectors, including oil and gas, timber, cocoa, gold, diamond, bauxite, aluminium, and manganese. However, infrastructural deficits impose restrictions on the growth drivers of the economy and undermine efforts for structural transformation. According to the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Ghana needs an annual infrastructural investment of GH¢ 9 billion for the next ten years, but growing public debt and its associated financing costs currently absorb over 45% of non-oil tax revenue. How can policymakers ensure investment of scarce public resources yields the highest return for every cedi?