The Institute for Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP) has expressed concern over the World Bank’s latest assessment that 56.4% of Ghanaians remain in poverty, despite strong economic growth and declining inflation.
The World Bank’s Division Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Dr Robert Taliercio O’Brien, disclosed the figure at the launch of the World Bank’s Tenth Ghana Economic Update in Accra.
According to IERPP, the figure is a serious indictment of the pattern of Ghana’s economic recovery, arguing that the benefits of growth have yet to reach a significant proportion of households.
Dr Taliercio noted that Ghana’s economy grew by 6.0% in 2025, the fastest growth recorded since 2019, and accelerated further to 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026.
Inflation also declined sharply from 23.2% in February 2025 to 3.2% in March 2026 before edging up to 4.6%.
However, IERPP said the strong macroeconomic indicators mask a deeper challenge, as growth has largely been driven by sectors with limited capacity to absorb Ghana’s rapidly growing labour force.
The Institute described the situation as “narrow growth”, where expansion is concentrated in capital-intensive and extractive-led sectors that boost output and headline economic figures without generating enough jobs, wages and broad-based household income.
“Ghana is not experiencing artificial growth in the sense of manufactured statistics. The GDP and inflation numbers appear genuine, but it is experiencing narrow growth,” IERPP said.
It said such growth creates a recovery visible in national accounts but one that many households do not feel in their pockets.
The Institute referenced Dr Taliercio’s description of a “disconnect between the headline growth that is yet to reach most of the population.”
Poverty trend raises concern
IERPP said the current poverty situation should also be viewed against Ghana’s longer-term trend rather than as a one-off development.
It noted that World Bank and Ghana Statistical Service data from the 2016/17 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 7), the country’s last full household survey, placed the national poverty rate at 23.4%.
According to the Institute, Ghana’s poverty reduction gains were subsequently affected by a series of economic shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021–2022 inflation and cedi depreciation crisis, and the 2023 Domestic Debt Exchange Programme implemented alongside the IMF-supported reform programme.
IERPP, however, cautioned against interpreting the 56.4% figure as a direct doubling of the 2016/17 poverty rate.
It explained that the World Bank’s latest figure reflects a broader measure of deprivation than the narrower national poverty line used in 2016/17.
It also noted that Ghana has not conducted a new full household survey since GLSS 7, meaning recent poverty estimates are modelled rather than directly measured.
“Even allowing for this measurement caveat, the direction of travel — rising vulnerability alongside recovering headline growth — is precisely the disconnect the World Bank itself is now flagging,” IERPP said.
Call for job-rich growth
IERPP is urging the government to make the composition of economic growth a key measure of policy success, rather than focusing primarily on GDP growth rates.
The Institute argued that a lower GDP growth rate spread across labour-intensive sectors could have a greater impact on household welfare than higher growth concentrated in extractive industries.
It called for greater policy attention to agriculture and value addition, manufacturing, construction and MSME-led services, which it said have greater potential to generate employment and raise household incomes.
IERPP also called for a new full-scale Ghana Living Standards Survey, arguing that policymakers need up-to-date household-level data to effectively assess poverty and design interventions.
The Institute further urged government to adopt targeted measures for Northern Ghana, where poverty rates, according to the World Bank, exceed 50% and are widening in comparison with the south.
IERPP said the situation requires a regionally targeted response rather than policies based solely on national averages.
It welcomed the World Bank’s assessment and said Ghana’s economic recovery remains “structurally incomplete.”
“A recovery that leaves 56.4% of citizens in poverty is not yet a recovery for Ghana; it is a recovery for Ghana’s growth statistics,” IERPP said.
The Institute is therefore calling on government to make inclusive, job-rich growth the true measure of economic policy success going forward.
