Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mozammel Huq • Michael Tribe
The Economy
of Ghana
50 Years of Economic Development
Mozammel Huq Michael Tribe
Department of Economics Department of Economics
University of Strathclyde University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, UK Glasgow, UK
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Limited
The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom
Preface to the Second Edition
The original edition of this book was written at a time when Ghana was
passing through a severe economic crisis, and I therefore had the oppor-
tunity of focusing on that theme. Indeed, the key findings which had
emerged and featured strongly in the book (and which were presented in
various seminars and discussions) appeared highly critical at the time.
Fortunately, these findings later became almost conventional wisdom.
Ghana of the mid-2010s is a completely different country to what it
was during the mid-1980s when the original volume was completed.
Understandably, given the long period of some six decades that the pres-
ent study now covers, and also the complete turn of events that the coun-
try has witnessed in its economic policy, this new volume is much more
than the usual second edition, necessitating significant new material.
From 1982 to 1984, on secondment from the David Livingstone
Institute (DLI) of Strathclyde University, I was based at the Centre for
Development Studies (CDS), now called the Institute for Development
Studies (IDS), of Cape Coast University. I was there along with two of
my DLI colleagues, Drs Douglas Strachan (who sadly passed away on 1
August 2017) and Michael Tribe, on an EU-funded project, working
closely with our Ghanaian colleagues in the CDS, headed by its Director,
Dr Edwin Amonoo (and later by Dr Kwesi Boakye), with strong support
from Glasgow in the person of Professor James Pickett, Director of
DLI. The harsh economic circumstances prevailing at the time in Ghana
v
vi Preface to the Second Edition
sions. Asuo Afram of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) provided great
support in accessing and interpreting GSS data.
At Palgrave Macmillan, Laura Pacey encouraged me to produce the
second edition and then James Safford followed it up with the highly
needed push. Indeed, we are very grateful to both of them.
We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Navin Prasath
and his colleagues at SPi Global especially for kindly accommodating a
number of changes at the last minute and also for facilitating the produc-
tion of the book in a very short time period.
Perhaps it does not need emphasising that this volume would not have
been produced without the committed work of Mike Tribe. He was also
closely involved when the first edition was written in Cape Coast (and
finalised in Glasgow) so that in a way he has been involved with both the
editions from the beginning. However, in this volume, as the associate
author, his contribution has been enormous.
I am also heavily indebted to my family, especially my wife (Kumkum)
who has remained fully supportive all through.
The usual disclaimers are in order. No one else is responsible for the
errors and omissions that remain. However, as in the first edition, I do
sincerely hope that the factual errors that remain are not too numerous,
and that they do not present a distorted picture of the Ghana economy.
Producing a volume such as this without any major funding from out-
side has, understandably, created serious constraints. However, the love
and affection that we have for Ghana have greatly inspired us to engage
in this venture, and we would feel highly delighted if we have succeeded
in making any contribution in our humble capacity.
GlasgowMozammel Huq
9November 2017
Acknowledgements
Our sincere thanks to the large number of people who provided coopera-
tion and direct help during the preparation of this book.
In Glasgow, special thanks are due to Mr Talha Khokhar (University of
Glasgow) who gave sterling research assistance particularly relating to the
substantial Statistical Appendix, as mentioned in the Preface. Also, as
mentioned, we are indebted to Mr Roy Grieve, Dr Eric Rahim and
Professor Roger Sandilands for their valuable contributions made over
various discussions and comments. We are also very grateful for the con-
tributions of Dr Helen Cargill-Thompson, Miss Molly Huq, Ms Fatema
Sonia Malik and Mr Kamal Huq in working on the text.
In Ghana, Mr Asuo Afram (GSS) provided excellent access and
accounts of evolving Ghanaian economic statistics (particularly relating
to the new national income series). At the University of Cape Coast,
Professor Samuel Kobina Annim (Economics Department) remained
highly supportive, Mr Raymond Elikplim Kofinti provided substantial
research assistance, and Mr William Cantah and Mr Clement Entsua-
Mensah were very helpful in discussions. Old and new colleagues and
friends were also extremely supportive—including Professors Isaac
Acheampong, Kofi Afful, John Victor Mensah and Stephen Kendie;
Dr Eddie Amonoo also continued to give valued counsel. At the University
of Ghana, Legon, we were able to rely on advice from Professors Peter
Quartey and Felix Asante, and Miss Millicent Awuku provided logistical
ix
x Acknowledgements
1 A General Overview 3
1.1 Achievements and Concerns 5
1.2 Coverage of the Book 8
1.3 The Data Bank 9
xiii
xiv Contents
5 Agriculture 83
5.1 Introduction 83
5.2 Production 86
5.3 Land Use 89
5.4 Labour 95
5.5 Agricultural Credit 97
5.6 Technology 98
5.7 Other Inputs 99
5.8 Livestock 102
5.9 Fisheries 103
5.10 Forestry 105
5.11 Concluding Remarks 105
Contents
xv
6 Cocoa 109
6.1 Introduction 109
6.2 Production 110
6.3 Marketing and Trade 113
6.4 Development Concerns 117
8 Mining 133
8.1 Introduction 133
8.2 Major Mineral Products 134
8.3 A Brief Assessment 143
9 Manufacturing 147
9.1 Introduction 147
9.2 Ghanaian Manufacturing Development 148
9.3 Economic Analysis of Manufacturing Performance 162
9.4 Policy Towards Manufacturing Development 166
9.5 Role of Small-Scale Manufacturing 173
9.6 Conclusions 175
11 Banking and Finance 189
11.1 Bank of Ghana 190
11.2 Financial Sector Reforms 193
11.3 The Banking Landscape 196
11.4 The Banking Sector: Some Financial Statistics 203
11.5 The Insurance Sector 207
11.6 The Capital Market 208
11.7 Concluding Remarks 210
Appendix to Chapter 11: Microfinance in Ghana 210
12 International Trade 221
12.1 Introduction 221
12.2 Trade Policy and Liberalisation 223
12.3 Composition of Trade 226
12.4 Direction of Trade 237
12.5 The Balance of Payments 244
12.6 The Foreign Exchange Rate 249
12.7 The Terms of Trade 253
Appendix to Chapter 12: Ghana’s Economic Relations
with China 257
14 Transport and Communications 279
14.1 Introduction 279
14.2 Transportation Infrastructure 280
14.3 Posts and Telecommunications 290
14.4 Conclusions 292
15 Energy and Water 293
15.1 Introduction 293
15.2 The Energy Sub-sector 294
15.3 Water and Sanitation 307
15.4 Concluding Remarks 310
Appendix to Chapter 15: The Akosombo Dam and Ghana’s
Aluminium Industry 311
16 Education and Health 321
16.1 Introduction 321
16.2 Education 322
16.3 Health 327
17 The Environment 333
17.1 Introduction 333
17.2 Aspects of Environmental Degradation in Ghana 337
17.3 Policy Towards Environmental Issues in Ghana 349
18 Governance 355
18.1 Introduction 355
18.2 Governance in Ghana 362
18.3 CPIA Measures for Ghana and Comparator
African Countries 365
18.4 World Bank Measures of Governance 367
18.5 Attempts to Measure Corruption 368
xviii Contents
19 Poverty and Inequality 381
19.1 Introduction 381
19.2 Decline of Poverty 382
19.3 Inequality Analysis 386
19.4 Conclusions 389
Bibliography 465
Index 515
List of Tables
xix
xx List of Tables
Fig. A.3.1 GDP growth rates for ‘old’ and ‘new’ data series, 2007–2014 45
Fig. A.3.2 Illustrative interpretation of revised GDP series 46
Fig. A.3.3 GDP per capita: SSA comparisons with ‘old’ and ‘New’ Data
Series for Ghana 47
Fig. 11.1 Rapid Growth in Mobile Money, 2012–2015 204
Fig. 13.1 Foreign aid, FDI and remittance inflows to developing
countries, 1970–2005 266
Fig. 17.1 The costs and benefits of environmental change 334
Fig. 19.1 Decline of poverty and extreme poverty at the national level,
1991–1992 to 2012–2013 382
xxvii
List of Boxes
xxix
Principal Acronyms
xxxi
xxxii Principal Acronyms