Evidence from the petroleum pilot already points to roads and street lighting as practical constraints in some locations.
The policy should therefore develop designated 24-hour economic zones where critical public services are synchronised with production and trading activity.
24-hour markets: Promising idea requiring different implementation model
The nationwide 24-hour market initiative deserves particular attention because it is often treated as synonymous with the broader 24H+ programme. It is not.
In August 2026, the Presidential Advisor on the 24-Hour Economy clarified that the 24-hour markets are under the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), financed through the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), rather than being directly controlled by the 24-Hour Economy Authority.
The distinction matters because it affects accountability, planning, financing and performance measurement.
Government's stated model is ambitious.
The markets are intended to go beyond conventional trading sheds by incorporating storage, banking, restaurants, crèches, clinics, security and fire protection.
The President has stated that all 261 MMDAs are to benefit.
The problem is not the idea of modern markets. It is the assumption that the same physical market solution is economically optimal in every district.
The strongest implementation principle should be needs-based decentralised planning.
A district with a large weekly agricultural market, substantial night trading, strong population growth and inadequate storage may have a strong economic case for a new 24-hour market.
Another district may have a functional market whose binding constraints are drainage, roads, sanitation, cold storage or expansion rather than complete reconstruction.
A third may already have an unfinished market that should be completed before a new structure is commissioned.
The case of Krofrom in Kumasi illustrates the value-for-money question.
In May 2026, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly reported securing GH¢100 million to complete the market, while the consultant's estimate indicated that GH¢179 million was required.
The lesson is broader than Krofrom: where significant public assets already exist, rehabilitation and completion should be evaluated against the cost of constructing a new facility.
There are also positive examples. At Abor in the Keta Municipality, construction was reported at about 8–10 per cent in September 2026, with a 30-month completion period and approximately 70 per cent of the construction workforce drawn from Abor and surrounding communities.
These examples demonstrate the potential for the programme to combine infrastructure with local employment and services.
The policy lesson is therefore not that the markets should be abandoned. It is that the programme should be redesigned as a portfolio of differentiated local economic infrastructure rather than a uniform national construction exercise.
What should be changed?
• Publish a district-level economic needs assessment.
Before construction, every MMDA should demonstrate market demand, population served, existing market capacity, trading frequency, agricultural catchment, night-time activity, storage requirements and projected commercial utilisation.
• Use district development plans as the primary spatial filter.
The market programme should reinforce—not bypass—the statutory planning role of MMDAs. Projects should be traceable to approved local development priorities and spatial plans.
• Apply a rehabilitation-before-new-build test.
Where a functioning or incomplete market exists, government should compare rehabilitation, expansion and new construction using whole-life cost and expected economic benefits.
• Measure economic outcomes, not concrete.
Performance indicators should include occupancy rates, trader turnover, storage utilisation, night-time transactions, jobs sustained, local tax revenue, food losses, average transaction costs and private investment attracted.
• Create a national 24-hour market dashboard.
The public should be able to see the status of every project—from feasibility and land readiness through procurement, construction, commissioning and operation.
From construction to productivity
The central danger is that the 24-hour economy becomes a construction programme rather than a productivity programme.
This risk is particularly relevant where physical infrastructure is easier to count than economic transformation.
A market building can be photographed; productivity cannot.
Ghana's recent growth performance provides a useful starting point. Real GDP grew by 6.0 per cent in 2025, with services accounting for 45.9 per cent of GDP, industry 31.3 per cent and agriculture 22.8 per cent. Information and communication, crops, gold, manufacturing, transport and storage, and education together accounted for about 87 per cent of total GDP growth in 2025.
This suggests where the 24-hour economy can create the greatest marginal impact: sectors and value chains where additional capital utilisation, logistics, processing and export demand can translate directly into additional output.
The programme should therefore be judged by incremental productivity.
5 Policy priorities for sustained growth
• Build 24-hour infrastructure before demanding 24-hour production.
Prioritise reliable electricity, industrial water, roads, lighting, broadband, security, cold chains and logistics around strategic production corridors.
• Make incentives conditional on measurable additionality.
Tax relief, viability-gap funding and concessional finance should be tied to incremental investment, employment, exports, local value addition and productivity.
• Concentrate multi-shift production where the economics are strongest.
Manufacturing, agro-processing, logistics, ports, petroleum, tourism, digital services and selected business services are more likely to generate strong returns from extended operations than activities where demand is inherently daytime or intermittent.
• Treat local governments as economic institutions, not merely implementing agencies.
MMDAs should have meaningful roles in project selection, spatial planning, land, local infrastructure and monitoring, supported by transparent national standards.
• Build a public performance-management system.
The programme should publish quarterly indicators for investment mobilised, projects reaching financial close, projects under construction, completed projects, firms adopting multiple shifts, output, exports, jobs, productivity, electricity reliability, logistics costs and fiscal cost per additional job.
Ghana does not need an economy that merely stays awake. It needs an economy that produces more value while it is awake.
The writer is a financial economist, development and economic policy expert, Planner and Academic.
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