Ghana

Ghana sits on the Atlantic Ocean and borders Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. Its population is about 34.4 million (2024). In the past two decades, it has taken major strides towards democracy under a multi-party system, with its independent judiciary winning public trust.

President John Dramani Mahama was elected in the December 2024 elections. Mr. Mahama’s administration faces a challenging environment in leading Ghana on a path of debt sustainability by enhancing fiscal discipline, expanding tax revenue, and completing the debt restructuring with external creditors under the IMF program.

Read More

Read Less

Ghana has achieved significant economic and social progress over three decades, attaining middle-income status in 2011. More than 20% of the population continue to experience poverty, with rates exceeding 50% in northern regions. Rising deficits and debt have increased macroeconomic risks and financing costs in recent years.

Pre-existing macro imbalances and external shocks led the country into an acute crisis in 2022, resulting in loss of international financial market access, 92.4% debt-to-GDP, high inflation, depreciated cedi, and a slowdown to 3.8% growth. Since then, Ghana launched a comprehensive debt restructuring and secured an IMF recovery program. By 2025, the comprehensive debt restructuring was nearly completed and negotiations of remaining external commercial debt – less than 5% of total pre-restructuring debt – is ongoing.

Stabilization has improved markedly. Real GDP grew by 5.8% in 2024 and expanded by 6% in 2025 driven by services and agriculture recovery. Strong gold exports supported a current account surplus in 2025, increased reserves (over 5.7 months import cover) and strengthened the cedi. Headline inflation fell to 3.3% in February 2026 due to cedi appreciation and fiscal and monetary policy tightening. Fiscal discipline delivered a 2.5% primary surplus, exceeding the 1.5% target, driven by expenditure rationalization.

Headwinds from the Middle East conflict present risks and opportunities for Ghana. Higher gold and oil prices bolster export earnings, while supply chain disruptions could dampen domestic demand and drive-up fuel and food import costs. Domestically, rising electricity tariffs, strains in the cocoa sector, and large unmet infrastructure financing needs continue to weigh on macro-fiscal stability and household welfare. Growth is projected at 5.1% in 2026 and to converge towards medium term potential, supported by sector reforms in energy and cocoa, improved investment climate, and the new PECAN oil field production. Strong growth and lower inflation will support further poverty reduction.

Read More

Read Less

The Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP) has contributed to attaining Ghana’s goals for poverty alleviation by strengthening safety net systems that improve the productivity of the poor and access to basic services.

The Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR), with over 2.3 million households, is improving the targeting of social protection programs. Under GPSNP, the percentage of beneficiaries who initiated or expanded a household enterprise through the productive inclusion program was 89.3%. Under GPSNP 2, the GNHR is completing data collection in the remaining regions of the country to further improve program targeting.

The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Water and Sanitation project has provided improved sanitation to 611,624 people, while 503,733 school pupils were reached, and 666,749 people benefited from the improvement of the water supply.

The Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP) aims to boost private investments and firm growth in non-resource-based sectors. The project has facilitated $245.86 million in private sector investment, with $55.75 million in actual investments realized. The project has generated 2,438 direct jobs, more than double its 1,000-job target, with 1,071 jobs created for women. Firms supported by GETP have reported an average 18% increase in gross sales, while women-owned businesses have achieved a 12.68% increase, reflecting gains in productivity and growth.

The recently closed eTransform project supports the digital entrepreneurship program through three tech hubs. The establishment of operational infrastructure and support for the Cyber Security Authority contributed to Ghana ranking second in Africa in the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index. Under the e-Justice component, the case management system has been automated at 50 High Courts in Accra. It has helped reduce the average time to process a company registration from 4 days to 2 days.

Read More

Read Less

Country Partnership

The Ghana Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for FY22-26 was presented to the WBG Board on February 22, 2022. The CPF seeks to support the government in managing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis by preserving critical human capital and capabilities while taking the opportunity to build back better. It aims to create job opportunities for a greener, more resilient, and inclusive society.

World Bank Active Portfolio

The World Bank’s portfolio consists of $4.29 billion in commitments covering 16 national projects (IDA, $3.38 billion), and 6 regional operations ($907 million). Cumulative disbursement on the national IDA portfolio stands at $1.82 billion (53.84%) while the undisbursed balance is $ 1.54 billion as of March 30, 2026. To achieve IMF ECF fiscal targets, the Government has severely limited external-financed capital expenditures from bilateral and multilaterals. This has severely impacted IDA disbursements and halted many activities. The disbursement ratio for Ghana is currently at 2.81% lower than FY25 disbursement ratio (19.5%).

IDA21 Pipeline

The World Bank in Ghana is set to deliver approximately $1.48 billion in total under IDA21. Two Investment Project Financing (IPFs) for Ghana Market Access and Connectivity Project ($500m) and Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs ($300m) are currently under preparation for delivery in FY26. In FY25, IDA delivered $635 million for the Ghana Côte d’Ivoire Interconnection Project (Regional), ($150m, and an Additional Financing for West Africa Food Resilience Program-FSRP ($125m) (regional) and the second Development Policy Financing-DPL for $360m. In addition, $118.4 financed chiefly by Global Partnership for Education was approved for an Additional Financing to the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) to support a nation-wide scale up of successful interventions to improve foundational learning.

Read More

Read Less

In FY 2026 to date, IFC has financed and mobilized approximately $505 million in private investments in Ghana. Together with $410 million delivered in the fiscal year ending 2025, this represents sustained momentum in supporting Ghana’s private sector development priorities, particularly the creation of more and better jobs.

IFC’s program focuses on export-led manufacturing, agribusiness, renewable energy, and financial sector development. Recent investments include support for B5 Plus to expand construction materials production while reducing emissions through recycling and renewable energy; Sunda’s local manufacturing of affordable hygiene products; and Mohinani’s plastic recycling to strengthen circular economy value chains. IFC is also supporting up to 200 MW of solar energy with LMI Holdings to provide stable, cost-effective power and reduce industrial energy costs. In agribusiness, IFC is scaling structured financing solutions through partner banks, including Access Bank Ghana and Société Générale Ghana, to provide liquidity to Licensed Buying Companies in the cocoa sector.

As of February 28, 2026, the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, housed at MIGA, has an active exposure of $936.2 million (MIGA – $399.2 million, IDA – $537 million) across seven projects in Ghana, spanning through the energy, finance, and water sectors.

Beyond country specific operations, MIGA has also supported the Trade and Development Bank, of which Ghana is a member, through guarantees that have enabled the mobilization of $747 million in commercial financing to expand trade finance across member countries.

Under the new WBG Guarantee Platform, MIGA will deepen collaboration across the Group to de-risk foreign investment and focus on projects that reflect the Platforms core objectives to scale impact, mobilize private capital, support climate-aligned investments, and drive economic growth and job creation.

Read More

Read Less