World Bank expresses confidence in Ghana’s economy

The World Bank Group has expressed confidence in the ability of President Akufo-Addo’s government to turn things around despite the country’s current economic challenges.

Speaking at the launch of a grant for SMEs in Accra, Pierre Laporte, the country director of the World Bank said Ghana holds a huge potential to become a leader of effective development in Africa.

“In the World Bank, we have a target to try to disburse at least 20 percent of our portfolio during a single year. This year we did close to 23% above our target. World Bank support to Ghana at this level is testimony to the belief we have in this country. We believe strongly that Ghana holds huge potential to get to effective development in Africa,” he said.

“Despite the current micro fiscal challenges, we are confident that Ghana will rise through it…. but we have full confidence in the leadership of President Akufo-Addo. Ghana will turn the economy around,” he added.

Tourism

He charged the government to take advantage of the current global economic crisis to take strategic steps to help grow Ghana’s tourism sector and the general economy in the medium to long term.

Tourism is an important driver of economic growth in Ghana. According to data from the Oxford Business Group, travel and tourism contributed 5.9 percent to Ghana’s GDP in 2019, with a revenue of $3.7billion. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic however caused this figure to fall to 2.9 percent of Ghana’s GDP in 2020, and $1.9billion in revenue.

In terms of jobs, the tourism sector accounted for 514,800 jobs in 2020, or 4.2 percent of total employment. This figure was down by 30.7 percent from the 742,500 individuals employed in the sector in 2019, underscoring the severity of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the sector.

However, the sector’s performance is expected to recover in the short to medium term as travel restrictions have been eased, while the drive for nationwide vaccination continues.

He noted that, players in the sector need to show demonstrable progress to keep support for the sector coming in.

“In this period of global economic crisis, it is the right time to take calculated and strategic steps to review and grow our economies. Indeed it is time for developing partners to show good faith with struggling economies. The World Bank Group stands prepared to go the long haul with countries like Ghana, and I urge the players within the tourism value chain to reciprocate this gesture from the Bank towards the Tourism Development Project by ensuring demonstrable results at the end of the day. This will be the only motivating factor that will keep the project going,” he said.