- ISSER Warns Ghana’s ‘Big Push’ Yet to Translate Into Construction Boom
Ghana’s flagship “Big Push” infrastructure programme has yet to generate the broad construction-sector acceleration expected from a large national investment drive, with the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research warning that tight fiscal controls are constraining implementation and delaying the economic impact of major projects.
Presenting ISSER’s assessment of the 2026 Mid-Year Budget, Director Professor Robert Darko Osei said the construction sector expanded by just 1.30% in the first quarter of 2026, a pace the Institute considers inconsistent with the scale of infrastructure activity envisaged under the government’s flagship programme.
The weak growth suggests that many projects remain in preparatory, procurement or early implementation stages rather than having moved into full-scale construction capable of generating significant demand for labour, cement, steel, transport services and other inputs linked to infrastructure development.
For a programme expected to become one of the central drivers of the Mahama administration’s growth agenda, the limited construction response raises questions about the timing of the economic stimulus government expects from the initiative.
ISSER’s concern is not that the Big Push has failed, but that the available sector data show little evidence yet of the construction boom that would normally accompany a substantial public investment programme.
The Institute linked much of that delay to Ghana’s continuing fiscal consolidation.
Capital expenditure during the first half of 2026 was reported to be 41.00% below budgeted levels, reflecting stringent expenditure controls as government sought to preserve recent improvements in the fiscal position and avoid reopening financing pressures.
That spending restraint has helped strengthen macroeconomic stability, but it also creates a tension at the heart of the government’s economic strategy.
The administration is simultaneously attempting to reduce fiscal vulnerabilities and accelerate infrastructure investment. Those objectives are not necessarily incompatible, but they become difficult to reconcile when capital expenditure is among the areas most heavily constrained.
Infrastructure spending has a different economic character from recurrent expenditure.
When properly selected and executed, roads, transport corridors, energy infrastructure and other productive assets can reduce business costs, improve market access and crowd in private investment. Delaying those projects can therefore postpone the very growth benefits that could eventually strengthen public revenues and make fiscal consolidation easier to sustain.
Professor Osei’s argument consequently goes beyond calling for higher expenditure.
ISSER maintains that fiscal consolidation should be assessed not simply by how much government spending is reduced, but by whether scarce public resources are directed towards investments capable of generating the strongest economic returns.
That distinction is particularly important under the Big Push.
A programme of this scale can stimulate growth through several channels. Contractors hire workers, construction companies buy materials and equipment, suppliers expand production and transport activity increases. Once completed, infrastructure can then produce longer-term productivity gains.
But those effects only materialise when projects move from budget announcements into actual execution.
A 1.30% construction-sector growth rate therefore suggests that the transmission from policy commitment to economic activity remains limited.
The shortfall in capital spending also has implications for employment.
Construction is relatively labour intensive and can absorb both skilled and semi-skilled workers. A rapid rollout of infrastructure projects would ordinarily be expected to generate jobs across civil engineering, haulage, building materials, equipment services and associated supply chains.
Slower implementation delays those employment gains.
There is also a private-sector dimension.
Businesses often make investment decisions based on expectations about public infrastructure. New roads can unlock industrial zones, improve access to agricultural markets or reduce logistics costs. Delays can therefore weaken complementary private investment, even where government has already announced the projects.
ISSER’s warning highlights the delicate balance facing fiscal authorities.
Ghana has recently placed significant emphasis on expenditure discipline as part of efforts to restore credibility after the fiscal and debt crisis. Allowing spending to accelerate too quickly could undermine that progress if new commitments are not matched by reliable revenues and financing.
But excessively tight capital controls also carry economic costs.
The challenge is therefore to distinguish between expenditure that merely increases the fiscal burden and investment that can expand the economy’s productive capacity.
This makes project prioritisation critical.
Government may need to concentrate available resources on a smaller number of high-impact projects and ensure they reach completion rather than spreading limited capital across a large portfolio of initiatives progressing slowly.
That approach would also help make the Big Push more visible in the construction data.
For the programme to begin influencing aggregate growth materially, execution would need to accelerate to a level where contractors, suppliers and workers feel its effect across the economy.
ISSER’s assessment therefore serves as an early warning rather than a final judgement.
The Big Push remains capable of becoming an important growth driver, but the current numbers suggest its macroeconomic impact has not yet arrived.
The broader policy question is whether government can accelerate productive capital expenditure without sacrificing the fiscal discipline that has helped stabilise the economy.
That will determine whether the Big Push evolves from an ambitious infrastructure programme on paper into the construction-led growth impulse policymakers have promised.
