Ghana ranks 18th in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of total revenue-to-GDP ratio, with a ratio of 15.7%. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates this ratio.
Ghana is behind the Sub-Saharan African average of 20.1%.
Ghana’s low revenue-to-GDP ratio is due to weak government revenue mobilisation. The IFS says Ghana’s revenue falls far short of that of its peers in Africa, on average. In 2022, Ghana collected GHS 96.65 billion in total revenue and grants, representing 15.7% of GDP.
This amount was equivalent to US$11.68 billion in 2022. If Ghana’s total revenue and grants-to-GDP ratio were the same as the Sub-Saharan African average of 20.1%, Ghana would have collected GHS 123.48 billion, equivalent to US$14.93 billion. This is US$3.25 billion more than what the government actually collected in 2022.
The IFS also compared Ghana’s revenue-to-GDP ratio to that of Botswana, an African country with a heavy resource endowment like Ghana. If Ghana’s total revenue-to-GDP ratio in 2022 was 29.5% as Botswana’s, Ghana would have collected as much as GHS 181.23 billion or US$21.91 billion in total revenue and grants.
This was as large as US$10.23 billion more than the US$11.68 billion the government of Ghana actually collected in 2022.
In 2025, the Government of Ghana collected GHS 224.88 billion or US$17.91 billion in total revenue and grants, representing the same 15.7% of GDP. The IFS says the direct implication of the low total revenue and grants-to-GDP ratio is that the Government of Ghana is actually collecting revenues in monetary terms far below its potential.