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[Occasional Paper 18] Ensuring Strong Broad-Based Economic Growth and Significant Reduction in Unemployment in Ghana

Having witnessed a decline in economic growth in the 1990s on average, Ghana recorded increased rates of economic growth in the 2000s. In 2011 and 2012, the economy of Ghana registered exceptionally high growth rates.

Even though this was partly due to the production of oil in commercial quantities, which began in December 2012, the traditional non-oil sector also saw very high growth rates in these years. However, starting from 2013, the growth of both the total and non-oil economies began to decline, reaching incredibly low rates from 2014 to 2016. In 2017, the economy appeared to have turned around, as it registered a strong growth rate. Nevertheless, the high growth rate in 2017 was induced by the oil sector because of the coming on stream of the Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) and Sankofa Gye Nyame oil fields.

The traditional non-oil sector continued to register low growth in 2017. As a consequence, unemployment, particularly among the youth, is soaring. To address this dangerous socioeconomic problem, strong broad-based economic growth is critically needed. Although the present government is pursuing a number of policy programmes to ensure broad-based economic growth, the weak and fragile fiscal position in which the country currently finds itself call for extreme care in policy formulation and implementation.

After conducting a thorough analysis of the government’s policy programmes, and based on clear analytical evidence, this paper provides recommendations to help the government fine-tune its policies so as to ensure policy effectiveness and the avoidance of complications.

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