Options for Export Diversification and Faster Export Growth in Ghana

This paper discusses how Ghana’s path to a middle income status does not have to be paved with only manufactured products. There are multiple paths and processed natural resources-based products are not necessarily a curse, and if Ghana wants and it builds the requisite capacity, it can turn them into an opportunity. This chapter suggests that one policy challenge for Ghana is to facilitate a comprehensive package of sector specific polices dedicated to fostering the technological capabilities and other nontradable public inputs necessary to potentially scale up 6 identified sectors. We also find that 3 of the 4 Presidential Special Initiative products – starch, salt, palm oil are efficient choices but the efficiency of textiles is unclear. Our analysis also indicates that when income enhancement is the objective, there is no blueprint for a diversification strategy