Ghana is an underdeveloped country but it is steadily boosting as one of the leading African economies. The reason behind the development of Ghana and the progress of their economy is a smooth political setup, a pleasing situation of human rights, liberal trade policies, and friendly relations with giant markets like China, Europe, and the United States. A country having nearly 30 million people is considerably uplifting its social and financial standards at a satisfactory pace. But unfortunately, the COVID-19 has pushed the nation’s economy into a trough for the first time in four decades.

The Government of Ghana foresaw the negative impacts of the pandemic on the country’s economy and took prompt decisions to avoid the maximum loss of the economy. President Nana Akufo-Addo launched the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP). This program aimed at safeguarding employment and aiding private businesses in the country. As a purely capitalist economy, almost 70% of Ghana’s national GDP is associated with private micro-businesses, most of which are unofficial and informal. For the development of Ghana, these informal small businesses are also gathering under the umbrella of CAP. This may be regarded as a step for formalizing a greater portion of the country’s economy which is eminent for the development of Ghana.

A financial support scheme linked with CAP and specially formulated for strengthening the small business by the name of CAPBuSS (CAP Business Support Scheme) was approved by Ghanaian Parliament just after revealing the national CAP program. The total budget allocated for CAPBuSS is 1 billion Ghanaian Cedis equivalent to 174 million USD. More than 230,000 businesses all over Ghana are subjected to CAPBuSS and it is now regarded as a key scheme for the development of Ghana. By the mid-2020, more than 450,000 applicants have sought aid from CAPBuSS.

The stakeholders of Ghana did not stop here. In mid-2020 they launched a medium-term financial support program to facilitate the lives and private businesses. This program was named CARES (COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support). It is predicted by sources that if the CARES program is effectively implemented across the country, it will contribute massively to the recovery and development of Ghana. If the global oil prices do not slump anywhere in near future, then an average growth of 4.5 % in national GDP is expected between 2021 and 2023.

The development of Ghana in the next few decades is based on how this West African nation recovers from the losses suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy is run by people, and people need economic and social security to work for themselves and the nation. Keeping this in view, the Government of Ghana decided to reduce economic pressure on the public by providing relief in taxation. To strengthen the walls of the economy, the government also cut interest rates from 16% to 14.5%, reduced the reserve requirements for loan providers from 10% to 8%, and significantly declined the costs of local fund transfers. The experts conclude that the government is grafting the best policies for the development of Ghana.