Ghana has a relatively weak comparative advantage in the use of high-intensity technology in manufacturing, production and exports, particularly when compared with countries like Senegal and Tunisia.
According to the Africa Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), the generally low technology content in production and mechanized exports partly reflects the limitations of the country’s industrial policy and the challenges faced by the small and declining manufacturing sector in recruiting highly skilled and innovative workers capable of applying advanced production technologies.
It stressed in a report on Ghana’s economy that a closer look at the technology intensity of Ghana’s manufactured exports reveals a significant gap in comparison to Africa’s top transformers.
“There are concerns about the extent to which the industrial sector leverages technology to enhance growth and productivity. Ghana has scored significantly below the African average in this area, though it has started to catch up with its peers. The technology upgrading score, which measures the intensity of technology use in production and exports, shows a notable rise from a low of 4 in 2002 to 18.6 in 2020, after reaching a peak of 28.7 in 2014”.
Human Wellbeing
On human well -being, the report said the only dimension of transformation that has seen significant and steady improvement over time is human well-being.
This is mostly due to favorable market outcomes.
It stated that the robust growth saw the country nearly doubling its Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2014. This significant increase in real incomes from US$852.4 in 1990 to US$2,040 in 2022 contributed to a substantial reduction in poverty from 64.2 in 1991 to 25.2% in 2016.
Despite this, the report said income inequality has been relatively high and rising, from 38.4 to 43.5 over the same period.
Income share held by the highest 10% of the population marginally decreased from 32.7% in 2005 to 32.2% in 2016.
