Ghana has spent 40 of the past 68 years under International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes, according to the World Bank’s 2025 Policy Notes titled “Transforming Ghana in a Generation.” The country has participated in 17 separate IMF programmes over this period.
The report warns that, without meaningful reforms, Ghana’s economic growth is likely to stagnate at around 3.8%, pushing the timeline for achieving upper-middle-income status beyond 2050.
Governance challenges remain a major obstacle to policy reform and structural transformation. The report points to persistent fiscal indiscipline, inefficiencies, and mismanagement as factors eroding public trust. It also highlights Ghana’s overreliance on natural resources, which has hindered structural transformation and limited productivity gains. As the report notes, “The real risk is complacency and business-as-usual.”
If reforms stall, the country faces the risk of prolonged growth stagnation, delayed progress toward Upper-Middle-Income Country (UMIC) status, insufficient creation of quality jobs, rising poverty levels, widening regional disparities, fiscal vulnerability, and environmental degradation.
However, the report also sees the next four years as a crucial window of opportunity to move away from past practices and rebuild the social contract. Elections, it notes, provide a unique chance to reset national priorities.
The World Bank stresses that the 2022 crisis exposed deep-rooted structural weaknesses, not merely the impact of external shocks. While Ghana made impressive progress in the early 2000s, the momentum was lost over the following decade, culminating in the macroeconomic crisis of 2022.
Ghana’s income per capita currently stands at approximately US$2,200 and has remained largely stagnant for over ten years.
