Burden of inflation, low growth pushes more Ghanaians into poverty – WB | Economy

The burden of inflation and low growth is having a negative impact on the vulnerable and pushing more Ghanaians into poverty, said the World Bank’s Acting Country Director, Ms Eunice Ackwerh.

“The World Bank estimates that about 36 percent of Ghanaians are poor and that more than a quarter of people live on less than $2.15 a day,” she said.

She said the poor were the most vulnerable, hence the need for the country to implement policies to ensure conditions of severe poverty were addressed.

Mrs. Ackwerh made the call at the World Bank’s End Poverty program held in Accra yesterday on the theme of ‘Delivering with Ambition’.

The event was part of the activities to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, celebrated every year in October.

The program which was largely attended by young people provided opportunities for World Bank officials to highlight the projects the financial institution was funding to create jobs and tackle poverty in Ghana.

These included the Ghana Economic Transformation Project, the Greater Accra Integrated Development and Resilience Project, the Ghana Development Finance Project and the Ghana Economic Transformation Project.

The extremely poor, Ms. Ackwerh noted, were the worst affected by poverty, struggling with basic needs and social marginalization.

The Acting Country Director said that while the government is stepping up its efforts to grow the economy, measures should also be put in place to protect the vulnerable.

“It is essential that countries, including Ghana, implement policies that not only increase their incomes and access to basic services, but also complement climate investments,” she said.

A senior economist at the World Bank, Ms. Tamoya Annika Lois Christie, pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact and slowed down the country’s development.

“Ghana’s pandemic economic recovery is hampered by persistent macroeconomic instability and fiscal challenges, underscoring the need for targeted policy interventions,” she said.

To respond to the crisis, she said Ghana had negotiated a three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) program of about $3 billion to help restore macroeconomic stability.

An economist at the World Bank, Mrs. Laura Rodriguez Takeuchi, said most Ghanaians have fallen below the global poverty line and noted that poverty in the country is concentrated in the northern part of the country.

She emphasized the importance of investing in human capital initiatives that provided access to quality education and improved access to healthcare to promote development.