- Ghana Cannot Tax Its Way to Development Without Productivity Gains — NDPC
Ghana’s National Development Planning Commission has called for a nationwide productivity revolution, warning that the country cannot sustainably finance infrastructure development, expand public revenues or raise living standards without significantly improving efficiency across the economy.
Speaking at the Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable 2026, NDPC Chairman Dr Nii Moi Thompson said weak productivity remains one of the biggest structural constraints on Ghana’s economic transformation, limiting wage growth, business profitability and the state’s tax-generating capacity.
According to him, Ghana’s economy continues to be dominated by low-value informal activity, despite the sector accounting for the overwhelming majority of businesses and employment nationwide.
“Ghana’s economy reflects the paradox of so many businesses but so little business,” he said.
He noted that informal enterprises represent about 92 per cent of businesses and employ nearly 80 per cent of the labour force, yet contribute only around 27 per cent of gross domestic product.
The remarks come at a time when the government is pursuing fiscal consolidation under its broader economic reset agenda while attempting to reduce dependence on excessive taxation, domestic borrowing and external financing.
Dr Thompson argued that the country’s revenue challenge cannot be solved only by raising taxes or widening enforcement. It must also be tackled by improving how efficiently labour, capital, land, institutions and enterprises convert effort into output.
Drawing on International Labour Organization data, he said labour productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa averaged just $5.7 per hour worked in 2025, compared with the global average of $23.3 per hour.
Ghana recorded productivity of about $11.57 per hour, a performance he said was supported mainly by mining, financial services and industrial agriculture.
For the NDPC Chairman, the implication is clear: Ghana’s growth model remains too narrow, with relatively few high-productivity sectors carrying an economy where many workers remain trapped in low-output informal activity.
He argued that Ghana’s recurring fiscal instability and repeated reliance on International Monetary Fund support programmes are closely linked to inefficiencies in both the public and private sectors.
“We can’t pay higher wages, increase business profits and expand the tax base to raise enough revenue to finance infrastructure unless we prioritise productivity,” he stated.
The productivity argument cuts to the heart of Ghana’s development challenge.
A larger tax base cannot be built sustainably if firms remain small, informal, undercapitalised and low-margin. Higher wages cannot be delivered if workers are not producing more value per hour. Infrastructure cannot be financed reliably if government revenues depend on repeatedly increasing the tax burden on a narrow group of compliant taxpayers.
Dr Thompson also questioned the continued relevance of some state institutions, including COCOBOD, suggesting that certain agencies may require restructuring to improve economic efficiency and resource allocation.
His comments point to a broader reform debate over whether Ghana’s public institutions are enabling productivity or locking resources into structures that no longer deliver sufficient economic value.
The NDPC is now shifting away from measuring economic success solely through gross domestic product growth. Instead, the Commission intends to place greater emphasis on employment creation, wage expansion and productivity-driven development indicators.
That shift could prove significant.
For years, Ghana has reported episodes of strong headline growth without sufficiently broad-based job creation, industrial expansion or sustained improvements in household incomes. The NDPC’s new emphasis suggests that the quality of growth may now matter as much as the growth number itself.
The productivity agenda also aligns with Ghana’s long-term development strategy under Vision 2057, which seeks to reposition national planning around sustainable growth, competitiveness and improved living standards.
In collaboration with the International Labour Organization, the NDPC is currently training labour economics analysts to support employment-centred planning and policy implementation across the country.
Analysts say the renewed focus on productivity could become central to Ghana’s future fiscal strategy as policymakers search for alternatives to repeated tax increases while trying to stimulate industrial expansion, job creation and infrastructure financing.
The policy challenge, however, will be execution.
A productivity revolution would require more than speeches. It would demand better skills training, improved technology adoption, affordable credit, reliable energy, stronger logistics, regulatory efficiency, public-sector reform and a deliberate shift from survivalist enterprise to scalable business activity.
It would also require the government to treat productivity as a national planning discipline, not a slogan.
For Ghana, the message from the NDPC is blunt: the country cannot build a high-income future on low-productivity foundations.
If the state wants more revenue, workers want better wages and businesses want higher profits, the economy must first produce more value from the people, institutions and resources it already has.
