Chairman of the National Development Planning Commision (NDPC), Dr Nii Moi Thompson, has revealed that the government’s flagship 24-Hour Economy Programme was drawn from Ghana’s 40-year Development Plan.

According to him, the 24-hour economy is one of the few key initiatives that emerged from the long-term development framework, although the plan itself was not legislated.

“Actually, the 24-hour economy came from the 40-year Development Plan. It’s one of the few things that have actually come out of it,” he said on Joy News' PM Express on Wednesday.

Dr Thompson explained that the NDC adopted the 24-hour economy from the development plan despite the failure to legislate the broader framework.

“But the 40 year Development Plan, as in its entirety, should have been legislated, but it wasn’t. But the government, the NDC, removed that from the 48 Development Plan. So the 24-hour economy actually came from the 40-year Development Plan,” he said.

He said other initiatives, including the naming of the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, also originated from the plan.

“The name of the Ministry of Sports and Recreation came from the 40 year development plan,” he said.

Dr Thompson said the Ghana Agency for Development Cooperation was another initiative linked to the plan and was currently being developed between the National Development Planning Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We have something known as the Ghana Agency for Development Cooperation, which is currently being developed between NDPs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to help form soft power for Ghana and Global Affairs,” he said.

Assessing the implementation of the 24-hour economy, Dr Thompson said those behind the programme had made progress, particularly in securing investments across different business categories.

“From the perspective of those who came up with the idea, I think they’ve done pretty well. You have to understand that they are operating across a spectrum of businesses, from small to large,” he said.

He noted that large businesses often require time before investments begin to deliver results.

“Usually, it takes the gestation period for big businesses take a while to get, and I think they put a lot of effort into it. They’ve lined up a lot of investments. It will take a while for those to catch on,” he said.

However, Dr Thompson said the programme must increasingly focus on small and medium-sized enterprises over the next two years.

“My expectation is that in the next two years, they will focus more on the SMEs also, so that you cover the whole spectrum,” he said.

He said job creation must also remain central to the programme, particularly because existing businesses account for a significant share of new jobs.

“From our understanding, there are efforts on the way to handle that aspect of it,” he said.

Dr Thompson added that the government must address not only unemployment but also underemployment and poor-quality jobs.

“The issue of dealing with the quality of existing jobs is one of those legs that I expect them to work on in the next two years,” he said.