Imagine a village where trading ends before sunset because farmers harvest only a few days each week and most residents return home by dusk. A gleaming 24-hour market in such a community may stand largely empty, while the same public funds could have built classrooms, expanded a health centre or provided clean water. As Ghana rolls out its 24-Hour Economy, the debate is shifting from whether more markets should be built to whether every community actually needs one.
The discussion is moving beyond support for the broader 24-Hour Economy itself. Increasingly, attention is turning to whether investments are being matched to local demand, production capacity and commercial activity.
While continuous trading infrastructure can stimulate economic activity in major commercial centres, applying the same model across the country risks creating expensive facilities with limited economic value.
One Size May Not Deliver National Growth
The success of a 24-hour market depends on more than the physical structure. It requires sustained commercial activity, reliable transport, adequate power supply, sufficient producers, buyers and supporting logistics capable of keeping businesses operating beyond traditional trading hours.
Communities with large agricultural output, fishing activities, manufacturing clusters or active wholesale trade could benefit significantly from extended market operations. Smaller settlements with limited commercial activity may struggle to utilise such facilities effectively.
The result could be underused infrastructure that imposes long-term maintenance costs without generating the expected productivity gains or employment.
Development Priorities Differ Across Communities
Kodzo Yaotse, Policy Lead for Petroleum and Conventional Energy at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), believes infrastructure investments should respond to the specific development needs of each locality.
“If for political reasons you insist on every area or town getting a 24-hour market, we are only creating procurement opportunities for some people which could be a drain on the national budget.
So it’s something that I think we should hammer on, that yes, you want to do 24-hour markets, but perhaps it’s not everywhere that you should do it. Some villages don’t need 24-hour markets. They probably need an extra six-unit classroom block instead.”
His comments raise a broader policy question: should national development programmes prioritise equal distribution of infrastructure, or should they maximise economic returns by investing where demand and commercial activity already exist?
Value for Money Will Define Success
With Ghana pursuing fiscal consolidation while simultaneously investing in economic transformation, public spending is increasingly expected to demonstrate clear value for money.
The objective should not simply be constructing infrastructure but ensuring that every cedi invested generates measurable improvements in productivity, incomes and employment.
For the 24-Hour Economy, that means markets should be integrated into functioning production systems, linked to farmers, processors, transport operators, storage facilities and buyers, rather than existing as standalone projects.
Infrastructure planning should therefore be driven by local economic realities instead of adopting a uniform national template. In communities where commercial activity remains modest, investments in schools, health facilities, irrigation systems, potable water or feeder roads may generate stronger economic and social returns than markets operating around the clock.
Beyond Construction
The broader ambition of the 24-Hour Economy is to increase production, strengthen industrialisation, improve logistics and create sustainable jobs by expanding economic activity beyond conventional working hours.
Achieving those objectives, however, may depend less on the number of markets built than on whether each investment responds to genuine commercial demand and local comparative advantage.
As implementation progresses, the policy debate is evolving from how many 24-hour markets Ghana should construct to where they will generate the greatest economic impact and where alternative investments could deliver stronger development outcomes.
For policymakers, the challenge is no longer simply to build infrastructure. It is to build the right infrastructure, in the right communities, for the right economic purpose. That, ultimately, may determine whether the 24-Hour Economy becomes a catalyst for inclusive growth or an expensive exercise in spreading limited public resources too thinly.
