Ghana's main opposition party earmarks $10 billion plan to lift the economy

Ghana’s main opposition party said it will invest $10 billion under a so-called big-push program to drive growth and lift the size of the economy if it wins the December 2024 elections.

The program’s main goal would be to restore Ghana’s position as the second-biggest economy in West Africa, after it was overtaken by Ivory Coast in 2022, Cassiel Ato Forson, minority leader in parliament, said during the National Democratic Congress party’s manifesto launch on Saturday. Nigeria is West Africa’s biggest economy.

The International Monetary Fund projects the size of Ghana’s economy at $75.2 billion by the end of 2024 and that of Ivory Coast to be $86.9 billion.

“Ghana has lost its enviable position to Cote d’Ivoire due to lack of investment and dedicated policy toward economic transformation and growth,” Forson said in Winneba, a town in the Central Region. “This big-push is aimed at driving the needed focus and investment.”

The plan will develop projects in the petrochemical and mining industry, build a “transformational” road transport network and rejuvenate cocoa and palm production, Forson said.

The government projects economic growth to accelerate to 3.1% this year from 2.9% in 2023.

Former President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC, who lost to Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2016 and 2020 polls, will face off with Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party in this year’s elections scheduled for Dec. 7. Akufo-Addo is stepping down after his second and final four-year term.

The NDC administration will introduce a new work shift system known as 24-hour economy to increase the number of employment by operating three eight-hour work shifts, Mahama said. All companies will be encouraged to practice the system. Public institutions such as ports and harbors, customs and vehicular licensing agency will initially adopt it to help eradicate unemployment currently estimated at 15%, he said.

“Businesses will be encouraged with tax incentives to participate in the 24-hour economy,” he said.

Spending Cuts

Mahama pledged to investigate the country’s gold-for-oil program that was introduced in 2022 by the government to buy gold with cedis and barter the metal for oil imports in a move to support currency stability. He promised to restore the licenses of wrongfully collapsed financial institutions during the country’s banking sector cleanup between 2017 and 2019.

To avoid waste and ensure the government remains prudent amid a debt crisis, he will reduce the number of ministers and deputies to 60 from more than 100 under the current government.

Many analysts and polls have predicted Mahama will win the elections due to the incumbent’s management of the economy, which led to a debt restructuring and painful austerity measures under an International Monetary Fund program.