The New York Times: What’s the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy? Ghana Contends for the Crown

Mired in poverty not long ago, the West African nation’s economic growth is on track to outpace India’s. But with oil driving much of the expansion, experts worry about the so-called resource curse.

Kekeli Aryeetey, a shop owner in Accra, Ghana, says the country’s GDP growth doesn’t mean much for most people. “We’re still struggling for jobs,” she says. “You’re on your own to put money in your pocket.” (Tim McDonnell)

This story first appeared in The New York Times.

TEMA, Ghana — As recently as the 1980s, the West African nation of Ghana was in crisis, crippled by hunger after a series of military coups. But it has held peaceful elections since 1992, and its economic outlook turned considerably brighter about a decade ago, with the discovery of major offshore oil deposits.

Now, as oil prices rise again and the country’s oil production rapidly expands, Ghana is on track to make a remarkable claim for a country mired in poverty not long ago: It is likely to have one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year, according to the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Brookings Institution.

Its projected growth in 2018, between 8.3 and 8.9 percent, might outpace even India, with its booming tech sector, and Ethiopia, which over the last decade has been one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies thanks to expanding agricultural production and coffee exports.

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