The Minister for Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, has revealed that income inequality in the country has risen from 37% in 1992 to 43% in 2017.
Speaking at a technical review meeting organised by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) in Accra yesterday, under the theme ‘Inclusive development and public policy performance: Prospects for child responsiveness and the way forward,’ Professor Gyan-Baffour said, “Despite the continuous economic growth and significant poverty reduction, income inequality has been growing steadily for a number of years in the country. Analysis of income distribution using the Guinea index shows widening income inequality since 1992, increasing from 37% to 43% in 2017.”
He described this situation as a dangerous threat to poverty reduction efforts, which ought to be tackled headlong.
Income inequality is an extreme concentration of wealth or income in the hands of a small percentage of a population.
It has been described as the gap between the richest and the rest.
Economic growth in the past 20 years has been impressive and was matched by a significant reduction in poverty levels.
The country is now the second-largest economy of the West Africa region, after Nigeria.
Inequality is on the rise, undermining poverty reduction
However, inequality is on the rise, undermining poverty reduction, holding back economic growth and threatening social stability.
Recent trends suggest that the richest are capturing an ever-larger share of the benefits of growth.
Poverty reduction not been spread evenly
Poverty reduction has not been spread evenly, particularly between men and women, and the north and the south.
One richest man earns more in one month than the poorest women could earn in 1,000 years
Oxfam estimates that just one of the richest men in Ghana earns more in a month than one of the poorest women could earn in 1,000 years.
1,000 extra millionaires created between 2006 and 2016
While 1,000 extra millionaires were created between 2006 and 2016, nearly 300,000 people could have been lifted out of poverty, had inequality not increased during this period.
Wealthiest 10% of Ghanaians now share 32% of Ghana’s total consumption
The wealthiest 10% of Ghanaians now share 32% of Ghana’s total consumption – more than is consumed by the bottom 60% of the population combined, while the very poorest 10% of the population consumes only 2%.
Gender inequality pervasive
Gender inequality remains a pervasive issue. Women are more likely to be poorer and to have fewer assets. For instance, they are half as likely as men to own land.
Only 6% of the richest people in Ghana are women
They are also significantly less likely than men to be wealthy – only 6% of the richest people in Ghana are women.
Despite significant progress, large inequalities in health persist.
Lifer pan of rich and poor kids
A child born in Ghana to one of the wealthiest families is three times more likely to make it past their fifth birthday than a child born to a poorer family.
Nearly a third of the poorest children in the Northern Region have never been to school, compared to just 5% of the wealthiest.
Girls in particular are losing out on a chance of a better life, with the poorest girls from the most marginalized regions facing the greatest challenges.
Low-earning employment
The labor market is dominated by low-earning employment in the informal sector.
Seven out of 10 jobs are estimated to be ‘vulnerable’ and only one in five jobs could be considered to meet the standard of decent work. Consequently, at least one in every five working Ghanaians is poor.
These disparities in income, consumption and wealth are not an accident. They are driven by fiscal and socio-economic policies pursued over the years that are not doing enough to tackle economic inequality. They have in fact often reinforced it.
To tackle inequality, Ghana needs a human economy. It needs an economy that works equally for women as it does for men, and where the government guarantees everyone’s right to quality public healthcare and education. It needs an economy driven by the interests of the 99%, not just an elite at the top.
This will ultimately ensure a more prosperous future for all of Ghana, where no one is left behind.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour therefore, urged government to fight inequality to lift more people out of poverty, sustain economic growth and maintain social cohesion.
This growth, he said, should not only be achieved, but should be achieved in a manner that makes it accessible to all – inclusive growth.
He warned that should the trend continue, citizens would remove themselves from participating in the democratic process, as they would feel that the government is no longer working for them.
He said, “It is estimated that nearly 300,000 more men, women and children could have been lifted out of poverty in Ghana between 2006 and 2013 had inequality not increased during that period.”
There is, therefore, an urgent political and economic imperative for the government to address these inequalities.
Anne-Claire Dufay of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in her address, said there could be no sustainable growth if that growth excluded children.
She said the only way an equitable society could be built without compromising on economic growth is by investing in children. “We believe that promoting equity, especially when it comes to children, can contribute to Ghana’s economic growth. It’s a smart and wise investment.”
She said that Ghana still has a long way to go when it comes to access to social services, as there is such a vast dichotomy between what happens in the capital and the rest of the country.
She bemoaned the prevalent incidents of teenage pregnancy and early marriage, which occur between young girls and men in their 20s and 30s.
She went on to reveal that about 28% of Ghana’s children are monetarily poor while a whopping 73% are multi-dimensionally poor.
To ameliorate this situation, she stressed the need for child-sensitive budgeting to strengthen access to child-friendly services, as well as the continued prioritisation of social protection programmes like the Free Secondary School Education and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP ) programmes.
Beauty Nartey of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) said it was important to look at the budget cycle in its entirety – from preparation to implementation – if the nation is to bridge the gap between child-inclusive budget allocations and implementation.
She, therefore, called on government to focus on the work being done at the district level as some districts are marginalised, which has affected the ability of the children in those districts to thrive.
Source: The Finder
