Robert Taliercio O’Brien, World Bank Country Director
Robert Taliercio O’Brien, the World Bank Country Director, on Thursday said the 24-Hour Economy and the Big Push policies, if well implemented, have the potential of reducing poverty in the country.
The programs, he noted, offered an opportunity to initiate ambitious reforms that would promote broad based resilient economic growth and job creation.
“Our research shows that with ambitious reforms, Ghana could more than triple per capita income by 2050 -moving it decisively toward upper-middle-income status,” he said at the launch of the 2025 Policy Notes, titled: “Transforming Ghana in a Generation”.
O’Brein said attaining the desired reforms was, however, hinged on strong governance and public institutions that were fit for purpose.
“Transformation is a collective endeavour. It demands unwavering commitment from government, innovative spirit from the private sector, active participation from civil society, and the sustained partnership of the international community,” he added.
Discussing the policy notes, Stefano Curto, Lead Country Economist of the World Bank Group, observed that poverty reduction in Ghana had stalled over the past decade.
He said that the growing dependency on natural resources and the limited structural transformation brought only marginal productivity gains as most new jobs emerged in low-productivity sectors such as informal services, mining, and agriculture.
“Consequently, income per capita has stagnated at around US$2,200 over the past 10 years, and the progress in human development has been reversed, with poverty now afflicting more than one-quarter of the population,” he said.
Curto raised concerns over the recent reversal of past gains in poverty reduction due to high inflation and slower economic growth, a situation linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“The subsequent increase in food and fuel prices substantially affected household purchasing power, especially for the poor and economically insecure and even for the middle class,” the policy notes highlighted.
He indicated that the next four years offered a unique opportunity to break from past practices and strengthen the social contract.
He observed that the new government was uniquely positioned to lay the foundations to foster broader-based economic growth and structural transformation.
The “Big Push Agenda” is a $10 billion national infrastructure development program initiated by the Government of Ghana to drive massive investment in roads, railways, and other critical infrastructure.
The 24-hour Economy policy also is geared towards increasing overall productivity and creating at least 1.7 million new jobs over four years.
