The Africa Center for Economic Transformation has stated that Ghana's economic transformation has not met expectations since independence particularly about the competitiveness of industry in general and manufacturing in particular.

Despite significant attention, it pointed out that these sectors remain constrained by the business environment and have little linkage with the extractive industry.

It said in its Ghana Country Economic Transformation Outlook 2024 that it has adversely impacted diversification, export competitiveness, productivity, technological advancement, and human well-being, adding that successive administrations have failed to solidify industrialization gains and provide an environment conducive to building a competitive private sector.

It identified several key challenges such as macroeconomic instability, lack of empowering the private sector and failure to drive agro-based industrial development.

For instance, it alluded that previous industrial policies, including import substitution industrialisation were implemented with a private sector facing challenges such as weak innovation capabilities, weak managerial capacity, and an inadequately trained labor force.

Therefore, it wants Ghana to prioritise and empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to expand productive employment and enhance technological capacity in a competitive manufacturing sector.

Similarly, it pointed out that promoting agro-based industrial development is crucial for adding value to Ghana’s exports. However, poor policies, institutional barriers and exogenous factors have impeded transformation within the agricultural sector and its linkages with higher productivity sectors.

“Manufacturing faces supply-side obstacles such as limited access to raw materials, ineffective supply chains, and physical infrastructure barriers including inadequate rail systems and unreliable electricity. These combine to hinder the transformation of agricultural output into value-added products”, it added.

On environmental sustainability challenges, the report said Ghana is grappling with significant environmental and climate challenges despite various policies aimed at addressing these issues.

The key environmental risks include air and water pollution from galamsey (illegal mining) activities and inadequate waste management. These challenges threaten the sustainability of vital environmental resources, such as open spaces, nature reserves, flood plains, water resources, and public parks.

The report aims to assess progress and identify challenges impeding Ghana’s economic transformation.

Utilizing ACET’s “Growth with DEPTH” framework, the CETO seeks to influence policy debates and shape the country’s development agenda by leveraging gender-responsive policymaking in both macro and microeconomic policy development.