Ghana has the potential to transition into an upper middle-income country if it accelerates the exploration and development of new oil fields, according to Seth Terkper, Presidential Advisor on the Economy.
Speaking at the 9th Ghana CEO Summit in Accra, Mr. Terkper noted that expanding the country’s oil sector could significantly increase national income and drive economic reclassification.
“Ghana will become an upper middle-income country if we are successful in exploring and developing more oil fields, if we get four, five, or six new oil fields, we can make that leap. It all depends on how quickly we move,” Mr. Terkper said.
He explained that Ghana’s current lower middle-income status was made possible by the discovery of oil and the growth of the services sector. “We became a lower middle-income country thanks to oil and a growing services industry. That shift occurred ahead of schedule, we were expected to get there by 2020 or 2015.”
According to World Bank classifications, upper middle-income countries are those with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita between $4,466 and $13,845. Ghana’s GNI per capita stood at $2,350 in 2022, still below the threshold, despite a national GDP of GH¢ 1.4 trillion.
Ghana currently operates three commercial oil fields: Jubilee, TEN, and Sankofa. Mr. Terkper noted that expanding this number could serve as a strategic catalyst for raising national income and enhancing fiscal capacity.
He encouraged government and private stakeholders to intensify efforts in oil exploration, positioning it as a viable path to long-term economic transformation.
