- NDPC Sets Up Technical Team to Prepare Ghana for Global Economic Shifts After Iran War
The National Development Planning Commission has set up a technical team to prepare a strategy document to guide the government’s response to emerging shifts in the global economy, including the impact of the Iran war, changing geopolitical alliances and the return of aggressive tariff politics under the Trump administration in the United States. The team was inaugurated on May 7, 2026, by the Chairman of the Commission and the President’s Senior Advisor on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Dr Nii Moi Thompson.
It will be chaired by Professor William Baah-Boateng, former Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, current Vice Chancellor of Methodist University, and a member of the Commission who serves on its Economic Policy Sub-Committee.
The initiative comes amid growing concern that the world economy is entering a more fragmented and uncertain phase, with trade blocs realigning, supply chains being redrawn and developing economies facing both risks and new opportunities.
Dr Thompson told members of the team that the strategy document would help the Government of Ghana navigate the global economy not only in the short term but also over the medium to long term.
He said recent geopolitical tensions arising from the Iran conflict had heightened global uncertainty but stressed that major shifts in the global economy had already begun before the war and were likely to persist for the foreseeable future.
According to the NDPC, those shifts include changes in trade relations between Canada and the European Union, away from Canada’s traditional trading partner and ally, the United States; the rise of new economic powers in Asia, including Vietnam; and China’s growing support for developing countries, including enhanced market access for African exports.
The Commission said the team would examine policy options that could help Ghana reposition itself in a changing world economy where old assumptions about markets, alliances and supply chains are being tested.
Among the key areas to be reviewed is China’s new tariff-free access scheme for most African countries. The team is expected to assess which products are covered under the scheme and how Ghana can take full advantage of the opportunity.
The group will also examine potential opportunities within the African Continental Free Trade Area, emerging markets in Latin America and Asia, and prospects in traditional markets such as Europe and North America.
The review will further consider global supply chains and logistics networks and their implications for Ghana’s international trade.
For Ghana, the work of the team could become important in shaping the next phase of economic transformation. The country has long sought to diversify exports, reduce dependence on raw commodity shipments and build stronger industrial capacity. But a changing global order may require a sharper and more coordinated strategy than previous policy cycles have delivered.
The NDPC’s focus on industrial policy, trade policy and competition policy is therefore significant. These three areas are expected to form the basis for recommendations on how Ghana can accelerate industrialisation and modernise the economy.
The challenge is both defensive and offensive. Ghana must protect itself from global shocks arising from war, tariffs, commodity volatility and supply chain disruptions. But it must also identify new markets, new production opportunities and new diplomatic alignments that can support exports, investment and job creation.
The technical team includes Dr William Cantah of the Department of Economics at the University of Cape Coast; Dr Francis Kumah, a retired IMF economist and advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana; Ms Nelly Mireku, economist and Director of Research at the Ministry of Finance; and Mr Dominic Odoom, Head of Trade Statistics at the Ghana Statistical Service.
Other members are Dr Adotey Anum, a retired diplomat and economist and member of the Commission’s International Relations Sub-Committee; Dr Alfred Appiah, a Canada-based economist and data scientist; and a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Chris P.K. Conduah, an international trade specialist at the Commission, will serve as secretary to the team.
The composition of the team suggests the NDPC is seeking to combine economic policy, trade statistics, diplomacy, fiscal analysis, central banking insight and international development expertise in one strategic process.
Its work comes at a time when countries are increasingly rethinking national development strategies in response to geopolitical fragmentation. Tariffs, energy insecurity, war-related supply shocks and great-power competition are forcing governments to consider how resilient their economies are to external disruption.
For Ghana, this matters because the country’s economic fortunes remain closely tied to external markets, commodity prices, capital flows, imported inputs, shipping routes and development finance. Any sustained disruption to global trade and logistics could affect inflation, foreign exchange availability, industrial production, food prices and fiscal planning.
At the same time, the emerging order could create openings. China’s expanded market access for African countries, deeper AfCFTA implementation, new Asian demand centres and trade opportunities in Latin America could provide alternatives for Ghanaian exporters if the country prepares properly.
The deeper question is whether Ghana can move quickly from analysis to execution.
For years, Ghana’s policy ambition has been to move beyond primary commodity exports into higher-value production. But industrialisation requires more than aspiration. It needs market intelligence, infrastructure, competitive firms, trade finance, standards compliance, logistics capacity, export discipline and coordinated government action.
The NDPC’s strategy process will therefore be judged by whether it produces actionable recommendations that can be integrated into government policy, budget planning, export promotion and private sector support.
The Commission’s intervention signals that Ghana cannot afford to treat the Iran war, global tariff wars and shifting alliances as distant events. In an interconnected economy, geopolitical shocks travel through fuel prices, trade costs, exchange rates, food systems, investor sentiment and export markets.
The world beyond the Iran war may be more uncertain, more regionalised and more competitive. Ghana’s task is to prepare early, position strategically and ensure that its development planning is not trapped in an old global order that is already changing.
