13 Aug One of the world’s fastest growing economies
Under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ghana has re-emerged as an African economic champion. In 2019, its gross domestic product rose by over 7%. “We have also become one of the most advanced countries for foreign direct investment (FDI) in West Africa and, by extension, the whole African continent,” says Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah. To achieve this, the government implemented an ambitious reform programme that built on Ghana’s numerous existing strengths, such as its political and democratic stability, position as the gateway to West Africa, wealth of natural resources that include hydrocarbons, minerals and fertile lands, as well as the diversity and openness of its economy.
The president’s strategy involved fiscal consolidation and encouraging growth in around 20 productive sectors of the economy. As part of this, the government has created a more enabling environment for FDI and cemented Ghana as the best place to do business in the region, according to the World Bank.
There are now incentives to invest throughout the economy, some of which are part of specific innovative initiatives. These include the One District, One Factory project that is boosting industrial value chains and transforming the country from importer to exporter, the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan, the Free Education Programme that over 1.3 million senior high-school students are benefiting from and the Nation Builders Corps project, which has created up to 100,000 new jobs a year since its introduction.
The success of initiatives like these have gone some way to protect Ghana’s economy from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and it is expected to grow by about 1% this year, before rebounding to around 6% growth in 2021, says the International Monetary Fund. However, the government is using the global crisis as an opportunity to further revitalise and transform the economy. It has launched a £13.25bn economic stimulus plan, Ghana CARES, which contains many attractive elements for international investors.