Ghana’s ambitions to build a 24-hour economy could be undermined unless the government removes costly regulatory barriers that continue to frustrate businesses, according to a new study that identifies bureaucracy as one of the biggest obstacles to private sector growth.
The Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) said excessive licensing requirements, overlapping institutional mandates and lengthy approval processes are discouraging businesses from formalising and expanding, limiting their capacity to invest, hire workers and extend operations.
The think tank argues that regulatory reform should become a central pillar of the government’s economic transformation agenda rather than merely an administrative exercise.
“Understanding the challenges and practically adopting the recommendations will create a flexible regulatory environment for compliance. This will further lead to more business formalization, expansion, job creation and revenue mobilization for government. These objectives are not alien to the 24-hour economy which firmly aligned with a robust private-sector-driven economy,” the report said.
The study, which surveyed 600 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises between September 2024 and July 2025, found that businesses continue to face multiple regulatory hurdles before they can operate legally.
Manufacturing firms alone may require about 13 certificates, licences and permits from different institutions, while ICT businesses require about six and tourism firms around 10. Many of these approvals overlap, increasing compliance costs without necessarily improving regulatory outcomes.
ILAPI argues that fragmented regulation has become a drag on private sector competitiveness.
“The problem is coordination, not capability,” the report said, noting that Ghana already possesses digital systems and functioning institutions but lacks an integrated regulatory framework.
According to the think tank’s research, businesses spend an average GH¢1,030 to obtain business registration certificates, GH¢1,275 on permits from Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, and more than GH¢1,600 on licences, with unofficial payments further increasing the financial burden.
The cumulative effect, ILAPI says, is that entrepreneurs divert scarce capital away from productive investment into regulatory compliance.
The report also links bureaucratic inefficiencies to Ghana’s large informal sector, noting that 92.3% of businesses remain informal, limiting access to finance, government support programmes and tax revenue.
To support the 24-Hour Economy initiative, ILAPI recommends creating a unified digital business registration platform that integrates approvals across agencies, decentralising registration services and harmonising overlapping regulations.
The think tank also proposes sector-specific one-stop shops for manufacturing, ICT and tourism, arguing that reducing administrative delays would allow businesses to devote more resources to expansion, innovation and employment.
While the 24-Hour Economy policy is expected to stimulate industrial activity and investment, ILAPI says its impact could be constrained unless regulatory bottlenecks are addressed. A simpler and more predictable business environment, it argues, is essential to unlocking the private investment and job creation needed to support the initiative.
