The World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation have cautioned that Ghana’s ambition to implement a 24 Hour Economy could face serious setbacks unless longstanding system readiness challenges are addressed.
This warning follows the release of the B-READY report on Ghana, which provides a detailed assessment of the country’s business environment and the structural constraints affecting private sector growth.
The findings were discussed at a high-level working session themed “B-READY Ghana 2026: Bottlenecks, Solutions, and Public-Private Troubleshooting for Accelerating 24H+ Delivery.” The forum brought together senior government officials, selected private sector leaders and World Bank Group teams to examine how policy aspirations align with on-the-ground realities.
According to the report, Ghana’s overall business readiness presents a mixed picture. While some pillars show relative strength, others reveal deep-rooted weaknesses that could undermine efforts to sustain economic activity around the clock.
Mixed Performance Across Business Pillars
The B-READY assessment shows wide variations in performance across key pillars. Financial Services emerged as one of Ghana’s strongest areas, recording 72 percent, supported by well developed secured transactions regulations and a solid framework for electronic payments. Labour market performance also stood out, with Ghana scoring 71 points out of 100 and ranking in the top 20 percent of measured economies.
The report notes that effective labour dispute resolution mechanisms are helping to improve job reallocation and productivity, an important factor for any economy seeking to expand employment opportunities.
However, these strengths are offset by weaknesses in other critical areas. Market Competition scored just 34 points out of 100, placing Ghana in the bottom 20 percent globally. Across all services, Ghana scored about 50 points, while Operational Efficiency stood at 52 points, both within the bottom 40 percent of measured economies. The Regulatory Framework performed relatively better, earning 69 points and placing Ghana in the top 60 percent worldwide.
Weak Competition Law and Enforcement
One of the most pressing concerns highlighted by the report is the state of market competition. Ghana’s low score reflects gaps in competition law and enforcement, both in absolute terms and compared to peer economies.
The B-READY assessment calls for urgent reforms, including strengthening the investigative and sanctioning powers of the Competition Authority and improving its capacity to review mergers. According to the report, a more competitive business environment is essential to drive innovation, reduce costs and attract investment at scale.
Speaking on the findings, IFC Senior Country Manager for Ghana and Liberia, Kyle Kelhofer, said the assessment offers a clear picture of Ghana’s strengths and weaknesses.“The updated B-READY assessment gives us a clear and evidence based view of where those conditions are strong and where they are not,” he said.
“It highlights the bottlenecks affecting food and agri processing, light manufacturing, and trade facilitation, three sectors that are foundational to Ghana’s economy. Importantly, the findings highlight administrative, regulatory, and coordination improvements that can unlock growth quickly.”
Kyle Kelhofer
Investor Confidence and the Execution Gap
The report also sheds light on why Ghana continues to struggle to attract global capital at the scale required for rapid job creation. World Bank Division Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Robert Taliercio, pointed to the persistent gap between strong regulations and weak execution.
“Across pillars, Ghana’s Regulatory Framework score is 69, while Operational Efficiency is 52. This gap between strong rules and slower delivery shapes how investors assess risk, cost, and predictability. This gap matters because the real win is jobs, and jobs at scale come from investment.”
Robert Taliercio
Mr Taliercio noted that gross capital formation in Ghana stands at about 10 percent of GDP, far below the levels seen in economies that are successfully industrialising. In Morocco, investment in productive assets reaches around 30 percent of GDP. According to him, the B-READY report helps explain why investment has not flowed at the scale needed, despite relatively strong underlying rules.
Trade, Logistics and Infrastructure Constraints
Trade and logistics emerged as major bottlenecks in the assessment. Imported goods take about 23 days to clear all border control agencies in Ghana, while exports take around nine days. In comparison, imports clear in about seven days in competitor countries such as Morocco and Vietnam.
For manufacturers dependent on imported inputs, these delays increase costs, disrupt production schedules and result in missed export opportunities. The report also highlights challenges related to business location and property transfer. Transferring property in Ghana takes about 182 days, while obtaining a building permit requires roughly 125 days. In Morocco, property transfers can be completed in about 10 days, with building permits issued within 35 days.
Infrastructure reliability further compounds these issues. Firms experience an average of three power outages per month, and only about half of businesses report not experiencing internet disruptions. These challenges pose significant risks to global business services such as IT support centres, accounting hubs and analytics operations that rely on stable power and connectivity.
Implications for the 24-Hour Economy Agenda
Mr Taliercio directly linked these findings to Ghana’s 24 Hour Economy agenda, stressing that the initiative depends on fixing fundamental system weaknesses rather than extending working hours.
“A truly essential part of the 24 Hour Economy programme is addressing these constraints. The programme is not about working endlessly. It is about system readiness. It is about ensuring that ports, utilities, regulators, and public services operate with the reliability required by modern industry and global services.”
Robert Taliercio
Without decisive reforms to improve efficiency, competition, and infrastructure reliability, Ghana’s vision of a vibrant 24 Hour Economy risks falling short of its job creation and industrialisation goals.
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