Prof Ackah: Ghana GDP Growth Too Slow For Decades

Ghana’s economic trajectory over the past six and a half decades has been anaemic, with per capita growth averaging barely above one percent annually, a pace economists warn is inadequate for structural transformation. Research Fellow at ISSER, Prof Charles Ackah, says the country must recalibrate its growth model to avoid another generation of stagnation.

Prof Ackah told Channel One TV’s The Point of View that Ghana recorded an average annual per capita GDP growth of just one point one five percent over the last sixty five years. He contrasted this with economies such as China and Botswana, which sustained rates exceeding six percent and nearly five percent respectively by leveraging industrial policy and resource governance.

The economist noted that while Ghana has experienced episodic bursts of expansion, including years above double digits, those gains have not been consolidated into durable momentum. He argued that at current velocity, the transition from lower-middle-income to upper-middle-income status could take roughly seven decades. He further observed that Ghana’s GDP per capita in purchasing power parity terms remains below the average for peer lower-middle-income economies.

Prof Ackah traced the divergence to historical baselines, recalling that at independence Ghana’s per capita income was comparable to that of South Korea. The subsequent divergence, he submitted, reflects disparities in productivity, institutional coherence, and export diversification. He cited Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Lesotho and Gabon as African counterparts that have outperformed Ghana on long-term averages, even as Ghana remains slightly above the continental mean.

He concluded that accelerating growth will require deliberate investments in human capital, value addition, and macroeconomic stability to escape the trap of episodic booms and protracted slumps. Without such recalibration, he cautioned, aspirations of high-income status will remain elusive for the foreseeable future.

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Charles Ackah, ISSER, Ghana GDP, per capita growth, Ghana economy, economic transformation, CitiNewsroom, lower middle income, Botswana, China

Source: CitiNewsroom
Author: Korkor Anumu