Does the 2018 Budget and Economic Policy Address the Critical Challenges Facing Ghana? [Occasional Paper 13]

[Occasional Paper 13] Does the 2018 Budget and Economic Policy Address the Critical Challenges Facing Ghana?

Ghana is currently facing three critical economic challenges, namely a slowdown of economic growth, rising unemployment, and surging public debt. The broad agenda of the government in 2018 is to guide the economy to grow and create more job opportunities to deal with the surging unemployment by reversing the abysmal performance of the agriculture sector and reviving the ailing manufacturing sub-sector. This is to be achieved by a number of flagship programs and projects.

The government also plans to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit in 2018 and over the medium term to bring the public debt on a declining path to eliminate the risk of debt distress and strengthen the country’s debt sustainability.

The budget appears well conceptualized, seeking to achieve a prudent compromise between fiscal consolidation and the acceleration of the country’s economic growth, rising unemployment, and unsustainable public debt. Details of some of the policies and programs, however, are yet to be revealed, making their ability to fully address the challenges difficult to establish.