The World Bank Division Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Robert R. Taliercio, has said Ghana’s economy recorded its fastest annual growth rate since 2019 in 2025, expanding by 6%.
According to the World Bank, Ghana recorded its fastest economic growth since 2019, but requires reforms to translate into jobs.
Speaking at the launch of the World Bank’s Tenth Ghana Economic Update in Accra on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Robert R. Taliercio noted that strong performance marked a significant improvement in Ghana’s economic recovery.
He detailed that Ghana’s recovery remains “structurally incomplete”, with persistent poverty, weak job creation and infrastructure constraints.
A news article by Myjoyonline detailed, “He said the momentum had continued into 2026, with the economy expanding by 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026.
“The economy grew by 6% in 2025, the fastest pace since 2019, before accelerating further to 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026″.
Mr Taliercio said the growth performance reflected the progress Ghana had made in restoring macroeconomic stability following the economic challenges of recent years.
He, however, cautioned that strong headline growth alone would not be enough to guarantee sustained improvements in living standards.
According to him, Ghana’s recovery remains “structurally incomplete”, with persistent poverty, weak job creation and infrastructure constraints continuing to pose challenges.
He therefore called for reforms that would translate economic growth into more jobs, stronger productivity and improved living conditions for households.
The World Bank said maintaining fiscal discipline, strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation and addressing structural bottlenecks would be critical to sustaining Ghana’s growth momentum over the medium term”.
In other news, Sherif Ghali, the President of the Ghana Youth Federation, has revealed that nearly 2 million Ghanaian youth are neither in education, employment nor training.
According to him, Ghanaian youth between the ages of 15 and 35 are without jobs, education or training.
He stressed that the situation highlights the scale of the youth employment crisis in the country, adding that youth unemployment remains significantly higher than the national average.
Sherif Ghali detailed that. Youth unemployment currently stands at 21.9%, compared with the national average of 12.8%, while the rate in the Greater Accra Region is 31.9%.
He stressed that the statistics should not be treated merely as figures, but should be understood as real challenges in securing jobs.
However, the Minister of State in Charge of Special Initiatives, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has rated the John Mahama government’s performance on job creation B+.
According to Dr Rashid Pelpuo, the government’s performance on job creation is getting close to A” despite persistent concerns over unemployment.
The former Ministry for Labour, Jobs and Employment defended the government’s record, contending that job creation should not be measured solely by the number of people directly employed by the government.
Speaking in an interview on Eyewitness News on Thursday, August 27, 2026, Rashid Pelpuo stated, “I think we’ve gotten a B. Even B+. We’re getting close to A,” he said when asked to grade the government’s performance on job creation over the past one and a half years.
“We have a multisectoral approach to job creation and accounting for the number of jobs that are created,” he said.
He further revealed that the government was still compiling data needed to establish the exact number of jobs created since it took office.
“If I give you any number now, it would be an estimate. I have written to all the ministries and departments to give me the number of jobs that have been created so far,” he said.
“We hope that by the time we finish compiling it, we’ll be able to concretely say that we have created this number of jobs.”
@ghnow_ The MP for Ablekuma North, Hon. Ewurabena Aubynn, has officially cut the sod to mark the commissioning of the newly completed Astroturf project at Dansoman. ⚽️ #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ The Ablekuma North MCE, Hon. Adamu Musah Kalamu, and MP, Hon. Ewurabena Aubynn, have inspected the newly commissioned Astroturf at Dansoman as part of activities marking the completion of the project. ⚽️ #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – NDCMUSICHQ
