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World Bank warned that further delays in the long-awaited reforms of the energy sector are risking the country’s macro-financial sustainability. The Bank said the delays cost the government approximately USD 1.4 billion in 2024 on transfers to cover the financial shortfalls in the energy sector, and these are projected to rise to about USD 2 billion by 2026.
Ghana lost a colossal amount of USD 1.4 billion in the past year, and could lose up to USD 2 billion next year if the country does not execute the long-awaited policy reforms in the energy sector, the World Bank has warned.
The Bank in its 2025 Policy Notes on Ghana titled “Transforming Ghana in a Generation” released Wednesday September 24, 2025, notes that Ghana can achieve a generational transformation, by implementing comprehensive policies and institutional reforms to boost productivity, improve infrastructure services, and strengthen human capital and its workforce skills.
It however warned that further delays in the long-awaited reforms of the energy sector are risking the country’s macro-financial sustainability. The Bank said the delays cost the government approximately USD 1.4 billion in 2024 on transfers to cover the financial shortfalls in the energy sector, and these are projected to rise to about USD 2 billion by 2026.
The World Bank noted that Ghana’s history is marked by persistent governance issues that have obstructed policy reforms and prevented structural transformation and hindered economic diversification, thereby perpetuating a ‘boom and bust’ cycle.
According to the Bank, sudden macroeconomic stops and crises have led the country to request a record 17 programs with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), remaining under active IMF programs for 40 out of its 68 years of history.
The Bank for the first time has publicly repudiated the long held and persistent claim by the Ghana government that the country’s economic crisis has been as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and the Russia-Ukraine war. The Bank instead, blames the country’s persistent governance issues.
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It points out that more recently, easy access to capital markets and the potential for natural resource windfalls have exacerbated these governance challenges, fostering political short-sightedness; delaying crucial reforms; and resulting in fiscal indiscipline, inefficiency, and mismanagement. This, in turn, has weakened the social contract.
