The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has warned that the country’s economy remains vulnerable due to its continued dependence on gold, oil and cocoa exports.
It has consequently urged greater diversification to safeguard long-term growth.
The commission said although the country had recorded significant improvements in several macroeconomic indicators, including stronger economic growth, lower inflation, improved fiscal performance and a reduction in the public debt-to-GDP ratio, the structure of the economy still posed a major risk.
“Gold, oil and cocoa continue to explain most of the improvement in the economic sector. The worry is that if there should be a problem with one of them, the whole economy could be in trouble, so there is a need to diversify this particular sector to ensure that we do not run into trouble in the future,” the Chief Analyst at the NDPC, Isaac Kwesi Eweh, said during a presentation on the 2025 Annual Progress Report in Accra.
The report
The report is the fourth and final report assessing the implementation of the Agenda for Jobs II: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All Policy Framework from 2022 to 2025.
It draws upon progress reports submitted by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), complemented by official data from national institutions responsible for the production of statistics and administrative data.
Mr Eweh said the findings underscored the urgency of expanding the country’s export base by promoting manufacturing, value addition and other productive sectors capable of reducing the country’s dependence on a few commodities.
GDP growth
According to the report, the country achieved its six per cent GDP growth target under the Agenda for Jobs framework.
Inflation also declined sharply from 54.1 per cent in 2022 to 5.4 per cent last year, while lending rates, exchange rate stability, public debt and the debt to GDP ratio all improved.
Mr Eweh said the country had made drastic improvements in monetary stability, with lower inflation and borrowing costs creating a more favourable environment for businesses.
He added that total revenue increased consistently during the review period, driven largely by improvements in domestic revenue mobilisation through income tax, property tax and other collections.
Despite the gains, the report identified structural weaknesses that continue to threaten sustainable economic growth.
Mr Eweh noted that the industrial sector, which was expected to drive employment under the Agenda for Jobs, underperformed throughout the implementation period.
“The intention was to ensure that industry leads this growth because that sector has the potential to create jobs. But industry did not perform as anticipated. Instead of the projected 7.1 per cent growth, the industrial sector recorded an average growth rate of about 2.5 per cent during the implementation period,” he said.
Additionally, he said unemployment declined only marginally, from 14.7 per cent to 13 per cent, suggesting that economic growth had not translated into sufficient job creation.
The report also observed that while the country had achieved food self-sufficiency in most staple crops, rice production remained inadequate, resulting in continued dependence on imports.
In the fisheries sector, Mr Eweh said marine sources still accounted for the bulk of fish production, although inland aquaculture offered significant untapped potential.