Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced that the World Bank has agreed to support the creation of over 500,000 jobs through the development and implementation of a Growth and Jobs Strategy.
The initiative is expected to absorb the annual influx of youth into the job market and strengthen the government’s drive to build an inclusive economy.
In a post on X following a high-level engagement with the World Bank’s Managing Director of Operations, JüsAnna Bjerde, in Washington D.C., the Minister stated:
“This is a bold initiative aimed at creating jobs for the over 500,000 young people who enter our job market each year.
This is a major boost for our efforts to build an inclusive economy that delivers real opportunities for the youth of Ghana.”
This forms part of Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s trip to the 2025 IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., where he is leading Ghana’s delegation. His mission includes deliberations on critical issues such as the global economy, job creation, energy access, and food security.
A day earlier, Dr. Forson also emphasized the urgent need for value chain reforms in Ghana’s debt-ridden energy sector, particularly to address inefficiencies at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), which are ultimately passed on to consumers through tariffs.
He noted that the sector’s financial woes, amounting to over $2 billion in debt exceeds the country’s entire domestic capital expenditure.
The Minister further mentioned that a proposal for the privatization of power distribution, currently before Parliament, could be part of the solution, highlighting that ECG is responsible for half of the sector’s shortfalls.
He expressed confidence in the Ghana Energy Compact, a key component of Mission 3000, a joint initiative by the World Bank and the African Development Bank aimed at providing electricity access to 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.