The World Bank has indicated that Ghana’s macroeconomic outlook for 2025 and beyond depends on the successful implementation of stabilisation and recovery reforms.
According to its Country Director for Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. World Bank, Robert Taliercio, this outlook is conditional on the country’s ability to manage risks by keeping momentum and steadfast implementation of the reform agenda.
These are completing external debt restructuring, entrenching fiscal discipline, reducing fiscal liabilities from state-owned enterprises (especially in energy and cocoa), containing inflation and exchange rate volatility, and navigating external shocks such as commodity price fluctuations.
He was speaking at the launch of its Ghana Economic Update Report. This year’s report places special focus on Ghana’s labor market.
“Despite strong economic growth, job creation has not kept pace with the rapidly growing workforce”, the Country Director said.
The report identifies five key labor market challenges. They include insufficient job creation for a growing workforce. Between 2012 and 2023, the working-age population increased by 2.7 million, but net employment rose by only 250,000.
There is also the issue of weak labour demand in productive sectors– job creation in high productivity sectors like manufacturing and services has been limited, resulting in workers moving within low productivity sectors and low-quality jobs and a mismatch between education and job opportunities– average earnings have declined as the influx of better-educated workers is not matched by growth of high-quality jobs.
Adoption of Coordinated, Institution-Wide Strategy
Mr. Taliercio said the World Bank Group is adopting a coordinated, institution-wide strategy to address the jobs challenge, making employment a core priority.
According to him, this direction is championed by senior leadership, notably President Ajay Banga, who has highlighted the importance of generating more and better jobs as essential to the Bank’s development mission.
“The Development Committee’s Spring Meetings paper further affirms that jobs are at the forefront of the WBG agenda. Building on this approach, the Ninth Ghana Economic Update lays the groundwork for the upcoming Country Growth and Jobs Report (CGJR) for Ghana, and calls for an integrated strategy that prioritizes job creation, economic transformation, and skills development”, he said.
He continued that there is the need to establish basic preconditions for jobs by investing in human and physical capital – proper nutrition, healthcare, education for a skilled and healthy workforce; and infrastructure in water, transportation, and energy for businesses to operate and connect to markets.
In conclusion, he urged the authorities to maintain fiscal discipline, advancing structural reforms, and targeting interventions in the labor market.
This will ensure that growth translates into more jobs, higher living standards, and a more inclusive future.
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