A new World Bank report is warning that the economic growth many developing nations, including Ghana, are pursuing could be quietly eroded by rising financial vulnerabilities and escalating environmental pollution that is barely measured or monitored. The report says weak standards in areas such as banking regulation, environmental monitoring, and new technologies like AI are allowing risks to accumulate beneath the surface, threatening long-term resilience.
The World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development argues that without strong and transparent standards to guide financial systems, enforce environmental protections, and manage emerging technologies, countries risk undermining the very progress they are trying to achieve.
Financial Standards and Systemic Risks
The report notes that financial crises, stretching back nearly a thousand years, have been fuelled by weak or poorly enforced standards. Even today, both high and low income countries suffer when regulatory gaps allow risky lending, fragile institutions, or loosely supervised financial innovations to grow unchecked.
The World Bank cautions that developing countries need financial standards calibrated to their unique risks, much like the Basel Capital Accords. It also warns that global anti–money laundering standards, while useful, can backfire when not adapted to local conditions. The withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships in several Pacific Island countries, for example, has made cross-border payments costly and difficult, limiting trade, tourism, and remittances.
Ghana has also faced scrutiny under global Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism rules, prompting stronger reforms within its financial sector to safeguard remittance channels and maintain investor confidence.
Environmental Pollution: A Silent Economic Threat
One of the report’s most urgent warnings is the rising threat of pollution, which it says is already damaging health, worker productivity, and long-term economic growth across low and middle income countries.
Yet the data needed to fight it is shockingly scarce. Most of the world lives in places for which reliable data on pollution exposure are lacking
Only 3.7 percent of African governments, 6.8 percent in Asia, and 19 percent in Latin America provide reliable air quality data. Meanwhile, more than 3 billion people worldwide are exposed to disease risks from water sources whose safety is not properly monitored. Soil contamination data is even more limited.
The Bank stresses that without accurate measurement standards, no country can meaningfully tackle pollution. It argues that monitoring systems must be expanded and modernised to produce data that is credible, transparent, and enforceable.
In Ghana, recent concerns over air quality in Accra, illegal mining pollution in major river bodies, and poor waste management highlight the urgency of improved environmental standards and monitoring. With urbanisation rising, the country stands to lose significant human capital gains if pollution trends go unchecked.
Leapfrogging Dirty Growth
The report maintains that modern development does not have to follow the old “grow now, clean later” model once taken by today’s advanced economies. China’s rapid rise in electric vehicles and renewable energy is used as evidence that developing countries can leapfrog to cleaner technologies in key sectors such as energy, transport, and manufacturing.
For Ghana, which is battling energy inefficiencies and rising electricity demand, the World Bank says standards across the entire energy chain will be crucial. This includes power generation, transmission and distribution, and the efficiency of buildings and household appliances. As climate change intensifies heatwaves, demand for cooling will soar, making energy efficiency standards even more essential.
The Danger of Weak or Uneven Standards
The report also warns that when countries adopt weak environmental or financial standards, pollution and risky activities do not disappear. Instead, they migrate to jurisdictions with looser rules, undermining global progress. It cites the Basel Convention, which restricts the movement of hazardous waste, as an example of how international coordination can limit this “race to the bottom.”
For Ghana, this coordination matters. The country is already grappling with imported e-waste, plastic pollution, and unregulated artisanal mining. Stronger standards, the report says, would help prevent Ghana from becoming a destination for high-risk or polluting activities originating elsewhere.
A Call to Action
The World Bank concludes that robust, transparent, and well-calibrated standards are no longer optional. They are central to protecting economic gains, safeguarding the environment, and building resilient societies. For Ghana and other developing nations striving for growth, the message is clear: without stronger standards, progress will remain vulnerable and costly.
