The Centre for Policy Scrutiny (CPS) has raised serious questions about the fiscal credibility, implementation feasibility, and institutional readiness of Ghana’s much-touted 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme (24H+), warning that the initiative risks becoming another ambitious vision without deliverables unless grounded in fiscal realism and policy discipline.
In a 60-page report titled “The 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme: A Critical Review,” the Accra-based think tank said the government’s estimated cost of US$4 billion for the programme is likely understated and does not reflect the true fiscal burden that the initiative will impose on the state.
According to the report, several critical cost components—including tax incentives, infrastructure subsidies, and indirect revenue losses—have not been adequately factored into the official projections.
Executive Director of CPS, Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie, who presented the report at a press conference in Accra warned that these omissions could significantly inflate the actual fiscal bill and derail implementation at a time when Ghana’s public investment levels are already at historic lows.
“The 24H+ suffers from poor fiscal realism and a lack of ex-ante project appraisals, both of which threaten to derail implementation,” the report stated.
“Given Ghana’s shrinking public investment—averaging just 2.8% of GDP over the past decade—the scale of infrastructure proposed under the 24-hour framework is overly ambitious.”
Fiscal strain and ambitious targets
The government’s 24H+ plan, which aims to create five million jobs by 2034 and sustain annual GDP growth of six percent, seeks to reposition Ghana as a round-the-clock economy powered by industrialisation, value addition, and export-led growth.
But, Dr Sarkodie argued that while the ambition is laudable, the financing framework lacks credibility.
Ghana’s current capital investment levels—averaging less than three percent of GDP—suggests that the fiscal space to support such a massive programme is limited, especially amid post-debt exchange recovery efforts and tight IMF programme conditions.
“Without credible private-sector mobilisation and phased fiscal planning, the programme’s transformative potential may remain unrealised,” the report cautioned.
Evolving from the 1-3-3 concept
The think tank noted that the concept of a 24-hour economy has evolved considerably from its early “1-3-3” idea—where industries would operate three work shifts to multiply job opportunities—into a comprehensive national transformation agenda aimed at value addition, industrialisation, and export competitiveness.
Dr Sarkodie described this evolution as “a positive correction” that reflects a deeper understanding of Ghana’s structural challenges but warned that the new 24H+ framework must not lose coherence in execution.
“The move from the 1-3-3 idea to a broader production and export-led strategy is sound, but it must not lose coherence in execution,” he emphasised.
He added that while the 24H+ integrates ambitious targets across agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and logistics, it fails to provide measurable timelines, performance benchmarks, or accountability mechanisms to track progress. Without these, CPS warned, the programme risks drifting into policy abstraction rather than measurable transformation.
Overlaps and policy duplication
Dr Sarkodie also expressed concern about policy overlap between the 24H+ and other ongoing initiatives such as the Feed Ghana Programme and the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA).
He cautioned that uncoordinated implementation could lead to duplication of effort and wastage of resources.
“The 24H+ must align with existing development and fiscal frameworks to avoid policy fragmentation,” he said.
According to the think tank, Ghana’s past experience with overlapping initiatives—many of which lacked coherence and monitoring—should serve as a cautionary guide for policymakers.
Weak institutional and project appraisal capacity
One of the report’s strongest critiques concerns the absence of robust ex-ante project appraisals for major undertakings under the 24-hour framework.
CPS noted that several flagship programmes in Ghana’s recent past were rolled out without rigorous feasibility assessments, leading to delays, cost overruns, and stalled projects.
“There is a need for more detailed project appraisals, costing and sequencing to guide realistic implementation,” said Dr. Sarkodie.
He stressed that the success of the 24H+ will depend on how effectively it is anchored in credible institutional coordination, transparent financing, and measurable milestones.
“The 24H+ presents an opportunity to reset Ghana’s economic model, but it must be grounded in fiscal discipline, realistic costing, and institutional learning,” he stressed.
Proposed solutions for a realistic 24H+ Framework
While critical, the CPS report does not dismiss the 24-hour economy as impractical.
Instead, it proposes a set of pragmatic recommendations to improve its fiscal credibility, implementation integrity, and long-term sustainability.
Integration into medium-term development plan
CPS recommends that the government embed the 24H+ within the National Development Planning Commission’s (NDPC) medium-term framework to ensure coherence, resource prioritisation, and accountability.
This, it said, would help streamline budget allocations and align the initiative with broader national targets.
Publish detailed cost estimates
The think tank urged the government to publish transparent and disaggregated cost estimates for all components of the 24H+—including tax breaks, infrastructure investments, and operational subsidies—to promote public trust and allow for parliamentary and civil oversight.
“Fiscal transparency is key to building investor confidence and ensuring value for money,” the report emphasised.
Prioritise high-impact and feasible projects
Given limited fiscal space, CPS recommends a phased approach that focuses first on projects with clear economic multipliers—especially in agro-processing, manufacturing, logistics, and export infrastructure.
It suggested prioritising high-yield sectors that can quickly demonstrate success, attract private capital, and catalyse job creation.
Rethink tax incentives and fiscal concessions
CPS urged government to restructure tax incentives tied to shift operations, arguing that such incentives should only be granted based on verifiable performance indicators such as productivity gains, job creation, and export performance—not mere participation.
“Productivity, employment creation, and export performance should be the guiding metrics for any fiscal concessions,” the report said.
Strengthen private-sector mobilisation
To avoid over-reliance on public spending, CPS called for stronger private-sector participation, particularly through public-private partnerships (PPPs), concessionary finance, and development finance institutions.
It urged the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to develop a targeted investment framework that attracts both local and foreign investors to anchor the 24H+ projects.
Coordination and accountability unit
CPS proposed the creation of a dedicated inter-ministerial unit within the Office of the President or the Ministry of Finance to coordinate the various strands of the 24-hour economy and ensure consistent reporting on progress.
This unit, it said, should publish annual scorecards assessing key indicators such as jobs created, exports expanded, investment mobilised, and fiscal performance.
Enhance institutional learning
The report also called for institutional learning mechanisms, such as peer reviews and external audits, to ensure that lessons from previous industrial policies—like One District, One Factory (1D1F) and Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ)—are integrated into the 24H+ framework.
Agro-industrial corridors and regional equity
Despite its criticisms, CPS acknowledged that the 24H+ offers a compelling vision for Ghana’s industrial future, particularly in its focus on agro-processing, regional development, and export diversification.
The report praised the government’s plan to transform the Volta Basin into an agro-industrial corridor, linking production zones to domestic and export markets.
This, it noted, could create a sustainable pathway for inclusive growth if properly financed and executed.
CPS also commended the initiative’s emphasis on regional equity, which seeks to distribute industrial opportunities beyond Accra and Kumasi to emerging growth hubs in the Volta, Northern, and Western Regions.
Ultimately, the think tank’s analysis frames the 24-hour economy not as a flawed idea, but as a policy ambition in need of grounding—fiscal, institutional, and operational.
“The 24H+ represents a bold and necessary shift in Ghana’s economic thinking,” Dr. Sarkodie said. “But ambition alone is not enough.
Without measurable targets, credible financing, and institutional discipline, it risks becoming another aspirational document on the shelf.”
CPS warned that unless government embraces fiscal transparency, prioritisation, and private-sector engagement, the 24-hour economy could join a long list of well-intentioned but under-delivered initiatives.
For Ghana’s economic transformation agenda to succeed, the report concludes, the 24H+ must evolve from rhetoric to realism—a framework grounded in numbers, not narratives.
