Ghana’s growth per capita is decelerating by more than 2 percentage points over the period 2022–2024, as indicated by the World Bank. While the country has experienced some level of economic growth, the pace at which the economy is growing relative to the population is decreasing significantly.
Despite 10 Sub-Saharan African countries expected to see annual average growth rates per capita exceeding three percent from 2022–2025, Ghana and Guinea instead, are facing a deceleration in growth per capita by more than 2 percentage points during the same period.
According to the World Bank Report, the real GDP growth of 27 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to accelerate in 2024, with eight countries posting growth rates above five percent. This growth is largely driven by structural reforms and public investments in infrastructure and has enabled countries like Benin and others to achieve annual average per capita growth rates exceeding three percent during the 2022–2025 period.
“Nearly 40 percent of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (19 of 47) registered positive growth per capita in 2016–19 and 2022–25 and are outperforming their pre-pandemic performance. Ten of these countries have annual average growth rates per capita that exceed 3 percent per year in 2022–25.”
The report also indicated that about a quarter of the countries in the region are seeing their income per capita grow in both the pre-pandemic (2016-19) and post-pandemic (2022-25) periods but the pace of growth in the post-pandemic years is not as fast as it was before COVID-19.
Within this group, Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia stand out, as they are still displaying high per capita growth rates above 3.5 percent per year in the 2022-2025 period, despite the general slowdown in other countries.
Unfortunately, that is not the case in Ghana. The country is projected to experience a deceleration in growth per capita by more than 2 percentage points during the 2022-2025 period indicating that GDP per capita, which reflects the average economic output per person, is not increasing at the same rate it previously was, and this slowdown could impact overall standards of living and economic conditions in these countries during this period.
“In other countries, growth per capita is decelerating by more than 2 percentage points in 2022–25 (Ghana and Guinea).” the report stated
This deceleration by more than 2 percentage points between 2022 and 2025 could widen income inequality, raise unemployment, worsen cost of living crisis, reduce investment, and lower government revenues.
It is therefore crucial for the government to implement targeted reforms and increase investments in key areas like agriculture and industry to proactively counter these challenges.
