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 challenge is now to convert economic stabilization into sustained private investment, job creation, and economic transformation while preserving fiscal and external stability.

Read More

Read Less

Ghana has achieved significant economic and social progress over three decades, attaining middle-income status in 2011. Yet, more than 20% of the population continue to experience poverty, with rates exceeding 50% in Northern and Savannah regions.

Ghana is emerging from a severe macroeconomic crisis—marked by loss of market access, unsustainable debt levels, and inflation peaking at 54% in 2022—that necessitated a comprehensive debt restructuring and a coordinated financing package from International Financial Institutions. The recovery has been significant.

Resilient growth averaged 5.9% in the last two years and continued into first half of 2026 at 6.2% led by strong services activities and a recovery of oil and gas, while agriculture slowed. Strong gold exports supported a current account surplus in recent years and helped rebuild reserve buffers covering 5 months of imports by first half of 2026. Inflation fell to record single-digit lows and remained contained at 5% in August 2026, despite spillovers from Middle East conflict. Fiscal discipline delivered a 2.1% primary surplus in 2025 and remained on track in first half of 2026 with a 0.9% surplus, albeit reliant on capital expenditure compression. Public debt fell to 49% by end-2025. Ghana successfully completed the IMF ECF Program in July 2026, and a non-financing Policy Coordination Instrument is expected to sustain reform momentum going forward.

The challenge now is to convert these macroeconomic gains into a structural transformation that supports macro-fiscal stability and broad-based job creation over the long run. Growth is projected at 4.8% in 2026 and to converge towards medium term potential, supported by reforms to improve investment climate especially for non-extractives, new PECAN oil fields coming onstream, deeper energy and cocoa reforms, and greater revenue mobilization to open fiscal space.

Yet, risks remain from prolonged inflation pressures and supply disruptions from the Middle East conflict, while domestically, large debt repayments and capital investment needs weigh on macro stability.

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

The Ghana Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for FY22-26 recently ended. It supported the Government's efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis while laying the foundations for a more resilient, inclusive, and diversified economy. Preparation of the FY27–FY32 CPF is at concept stage and has included consultations with Government, civil society organizations, Development Partners and Thought Leaders. The emerging framework is organized around more and better jobs, with potential outcomes covering macroeconomic stability and pro-growth policies, private investment and productive transformation, employability, and resilient infrastructure, supported by greater selectivity and integrated One WBG delivery.

World Bank Active Portfolio

The World Bank’s portfolio consists of $4.17 billion in commitments covering 16 national projects (IDA, $3.25 billion), and 5 regional operations (totaling $918.7 million) - across energy, education, health, agriculture, digital development, social protection, urban development, governance and climate resilience. Cumulative disbursements were $1.72 billion (41.3%), leaving $2.45 billion undisbursed. Recent approvals of $500 million for market access and connectivity and $300 million for secondary education reinforce the growth and jobs agenda.

IDA21 Pipeline

The World Bank in Ghana’s indicative IDA21 delivery envelope is approximately $1.48 billion. The FY26 program included the Ghana Market Access and Connectivity Project and the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs Project. The FY27 pipeline remains subject to CPF selectivity, IDA availability, readiness, fiscal affordability and confirmation with Government.

Read More

Read Less

In FY26 to date, IFC committed and mobilized an estimated $726 million in Ghana, supporting investments in manufacturing, agribusiness, renewable energy and financial inclusion to help businesses expand and create more and better jobs.

In manufacturing, IFC supported B5 Plus to expand steel production through increased recycling and renewable energy use, Sunda to scale local production of affordable hygiene products, and Mohinani Group to strengthen plastic recycling and circular manufacturing. IFC is also supporting a 100 MW solar project in the Dawa Industrial Zone, which will provide stable and cost-effective renewable power to businesses in industrial corridor.

In agriculture, IFC is expanding financing across the cocoa value chain through risk-sharing facilities to extend liquidity to licensed buying companies with Access Bank Ghana, Absa Bank Ghana, and Société Générale Ghana, as well as direct support to ECOM for working capital, farmer financing, sustainable sourcing, and market access. IFC is also partnering with Complete Farmer to increase access to finance, technology, and markets for smallholder farmers.

As of August 31st, 2026, the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, housed at MIGA, has an active exposure of $953.37 million (MIGA – $396.43 million, IDA – $536 million) across 10 projects in Ghana, supporting investments across the energy, finance, and infrastructure (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