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November 19, 2018

The 2018 Fiscal Policy Objectives and Targets: What has changed?

Fiscal Alert 15: The 2018 Fiscal Policy Objectives and Targets: What has changed? Ghana has been facing fiscal difficulties since 2012 and the effects were at the forefront of the fiscal challenges that confronted the NPP government that came into office in 2017. For most of the past six years, large persistent fiscal deficits and a rising debt burden have posed an increasingly serious policy challenge for the country. The implementation of the single spine salary structure for the public sector in 2010, coupled with a sharp rise in energy-subsidy costs and fiscal transfers, rapidly increased public spending. Consequently, the […]

December 1, 2018

Ghana’s Financial and Insurance Sector is in Crisis

Ghana’s Financial and Insurance Sector is in Crisis Ghana’s financial system underwent rapid growth and major transformation over the last two decades, which brought new opportunities and risks. The government implemented reforms to enhance the financial system’s resilience to shocks and its contribution to economic growth. The reforms were also aimed at strengthening the regulatory and supervisory framework and financial infrastructures. Despite these reforms, financial stability risks have heightened considerably in the last few years, with high nonperforming loans, under-capitalization, supervision and regulatory weaknesses, and governance lapses. As a result, the country’s financial sector is in crisis, with most Ghanaians […]

January 14, 2019

Enhancing Revenue Mobilization in Ghana through Tax Compliances

Enhancing Revenue Mobilization in Ghana through Tax Compliance. Ghana’s tax/GDP (rebased) ratio currently sits below 13%. Not only is the country’s tax revenue as a share of GDP low in absolute terms, but it is also very low as a share of GDP relative to those of its African peers, pointing to the need to significantly increase tax revenue. Developing mechanisms to improve tax revenue has however become challenging on at least two fronts: (i) lack of good data on tax compliance; and (ii) difficulty in finding effective instruments for improving compliance, given the institutional constraints. One way to raise […]

January 16, 2019

Leslie Mensah delivering post 2019 budget statement

IFS Ghana’s Post-2019 Budget Press Statement

IFS Ghana’s Post-2019 Budget Press Statement Ahead of the reading of the 2019 budget, IFS presented its views and expectations in key areas in a press conference. After the reading, the Institute has assessed the budget in light of its expectations. The Institute is once again meeting with the press to comment on issues it deems pertinent. The presentation will cover: Economic Growth and Job Creation; Fiscal Policy Stance and Realism of the Projections; Domestic Revenue Mobilization; Expenditure Control and Rationalization; Infrastructure Development and financing; and Exiting IMF Financial Program and Legislating Fiscal Responsibility. Our statement is intended to contribute […]

January 16, 2019

Strong Economic Growth And Significant Reduction In Unemployment: The Critical Issues To Address In Ghana’s 2019 Budget [Occasional Paper 17]

[Occasional Paper 17] Strong Economic Growth And Significant Reduction In Unemployment: The Critical Issues To Address In Ghana’s 2019 Budget Unemployment has become the most serious challenge currently confronting Ghana. Indeed, the unemployment problem has reached a crisis point, given that the rate consistently increased over the most part of the last three decades, and stood at 11.9% at the end of 2015. The overwhelming majority of the unemployed are young people, aged between 15 and 34 years. Only 10% of graduates find jobs after their national service, and available statistics show that sometimes it takes up to 10 years […]

May 24, 2019

Ghana’s Attempts at Industrialization: How Can the Country Achieve the Success It Yearns For? [Occasional Paper No. 19]

[Occasional Paper No. 19] Ghana’s Attempts at Industrialization: How Can the Country Achieve the Success It Yearns For? Since independence, Ghana has sought to extensively develop the manufacturing sector of the economy with the goal of becoming an industrialized nation, enjoying rapid and sustained economic growth and development. Yet, data reveal that the manufacturing sector has performed very poorly, leading to the failure of the country’s industrialization attempts despite strong policy attention paid to the sector. Economic fundamentals such as high fiscal deficits, macroeconomic instability, shortage of foreign currency, inadequate raw materials to feed the manufacturing industries, etc. have commonly […]