Dr Worlanyo Mensah, an economist, has cautioned that Ghana’s efforts to stabilise its economy will remain fragile unless deliberate measures are taken to formalise the informal sector, which he estimates accounts for about 70 per cent of economic activity.
In an interview, Dr Mensah observed that much of Ghana’s economic activity operates outside formal regulatory, tax, and data systems, making it difficult for government policies to accurately reflect how the majority of citizens earn a living and contribute to national development.
He argued that macroeconomic stability, including fiscal discipline and effective currency management, cannot be sustained when the largest segment of the economy remains informal.
According to him, millions of people working in trading, agriculture, transport, artisanal production, and services are not adequately captured within existing economic frameworks.
Dr Mensah called for a comprehensive social auditing process, supported by digital technologies, to properly map and profile economic activity across the country.
Such an approach, he said, would help identify what people do, where they operate, and how their activities feed into national economic growth.
He stressed the need to extend digitisation to micro and small-scale operators by integrating informal workers into digital identification, payment, and record-keeping systems. This, he noted, would improve data accuracy, enhance revenue mobilisation, and strengthen policy design.
The economist also urged the adoption of home-grown economic policies that reflect Ghana’s unique social and economic realities, rather than relying solely on externally driven models.
Additionally, Dr Mensah emphasised the importance of building the capacity of metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies to improve revenue collection and economic management.
He further advocated for greater decentralisation, arguing that empowering local authorities with more autonomy and resources would accelerate grassroots economic transformation.
He added that formalising the informal sector should be viewed not merely as an administrative exercise, but as a strategic necessity for sustainable development, warning that economic stabilisation efforts risk excluding the majority of citizens whose daily activities keep the economy functioning.
