The African Development Bank (AfDB) has urged Ghana to fast-track structural transformation for rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth to address socio-economic challenges.

According to the Bank, this is very crucial to reducing unemployment, income inequality and poverty.

Poverty stood at 29.5% in 2023, while unemployment was at 13.7%.

Income inequality was however, high at 43.5% in 2022 compared with regional peers. 

According to AfDB, the 2022 Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) showed that 24.8% of the population is multidimensionally poor, while an additional 20.0% is classified as vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. 

The World Bank in 2023 said extreme and overall poverty rates continue to decline in urban areas but are going up in rural areas.

According to the Social Protection Programme Spending and Household Welfare in Ghana Report, extreme poverty was highly concentrated among households without formal education.

The urban areas were the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, while the rural areas the Volta, Northern and Upper East regions.

“This pattern, the report said may be explained by the fact that 2017 was an El Niño year, which tends to produce droughts in the northern parts of the country”, the report stated.