Official data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicates that 92.3% of businesses in Ghana remain informal with just 7.7% in the formal sector.
This is according to the Ghana 2024 Integrated Business Establishment Survey by the GSS.
Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim said these informal businesses fail to keep any formal accounts.
“So based on the total number of establishments that we counted, about 92.3% of them are in the informal sector. The definition of informal sector, chair, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, they are not registered and they do not keep any formal accounts. You cannot track them, you cannot follow through them, you cannot give them interventions.”
“Our registrar general department doesn’t have information on them. Even if you have information on them, they do not have the capacity to keep any formal accounts. Chair, the striking message here is that in as much as we know the economy is informal, we have consolidated our informal position”, he said.
The report further revealed that over 1.2 million businesses were established between 2014 and 2024, with most recording low revenues annually.
Also, one tenth (10.7%) privately-owned establishment in the services sector are formal, which is more than 6.0 percentage points higher than the shares of industry and Agriculture sectors
The Ghana Statistical Service report also shows that at least 55.0% of large-sized and medium-sized privately owned establishments are formal.
However, more than three-quarters of privately-owned establishments are in the services sector, with those owned by non-Ghanaians having the highest proportion (86.9%).
Greater Accra has the highest proportion of privately owned establishments operating as formal, about 12.8%.
