The Government of Ghana has announced a decisive move to overhaul the country’s economic measurement framework, confirming that the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be completed by 2026.
The exercise, to be led by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), is seen as a critical step toward achieving a more data-driven economy, one that reflects the nation’s modern structure and the real cost of living for Ghanaians.
In the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson announced that GH¢207 million has been earmarked to support the rebasing exercise and related statistical operations. The allocation will cover the completion of essential surveys, data collection, and methodological updates necessary to accurately measure the country’s economic output and inflation trends.
The rebasing of GDP and CPI is expected to enhance the precision and credibility of Ghana’s economic indicators, thereby improving fiscal, monetary, and debt management decisions. By modernising the statistical base year, the government aims to provide a clearer and more reliable picture of economic growth, employment, and investment opportunities. It is also intended to “provide cleaner signals for targeting jobs, taxes, social protection, and inflation management,” according to officials familiar with the process.
In view of this, Ghana’s economic landscape has evolved significantly over the past decade, with new growth sectors emerging beyond traditional industries. The GDP rebasing will officially capture the contributions of digital innovation, fintech, creative industries, real estate, and construction, ensuring that the nation’s economic size and structure are properly represented. For the first time, the GSS will also produce regional GDP estimates, a move expected to improve local-level planning, investment decisions, and resource allocation.
On the inflation side, the CPI rebasing will update the methodology and basket of goods used to track price changes, ensuring that inflation figures better reflect the current cost of living across all regions. This will help policymakers, businesses, and consumers make more informed financial and economic decisions.
The rebasing initiative is aligned with Ghana’s upcoming National Strategy for the Development of Statistics III (NSDS III), which will cover the period 2026–2030. The NSDS III serves as a blueprint for building a modern, well-coordinated, and well-financed national statistical system that supports evidence-based policy formulation, national development goals, and the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To support this transition, the GSS is also expanding the Monthly Indicator of Economic Growth (MIEG), a dynamic tool designed to capture real-time movements in the economy between quarterly reports. This innovation will enable policymakers to detect emerging trends and respond promptly to economic shifts.
The rebasing exercise will also rely heavily on data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 8), the Informal Cross-Border Trade Survey (ICBTS), and the Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES II), all crucial for updating national accounts and refining inflation measurement techniques.
Ultimately, this comprehensive statistical overhaul underscores the government’s commitment to building a robust evidence-based governance framework. As Dr. Forson highlighted in Parliament, “every policy, cedi, and project must be anchored in evidence.”
By 2026, Ghana aims to not only modernise its economic indicators but also reset the nation’s economic compass, ensuring that growth is measured, managed, and understood with greater precision. The move, analysts believe, will strengthen investor confidence, enhance policy credibility, and position Ghana among the leading African nations prioritising data-driven economic transformation.
