59% of Ghanaians say the country is 'going in the wrong direction

Ghanaians’ approval ratings on indicators of their government’s economic performance have declined sharply compared to 2017, a new Afrobarometer survey by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) shows.

Few citizens are content with the country’s economic situation and their personal living conditions, and a majority say the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Key findings in CDD’s Afrobarometer survey suggest that six in 10 Ghanaians (59%) say the country is “going in the wrong direction.” The share of citizens who see the country as “going in the right direction” declined by 15 percentage points from 2017, to 35%.

Only three in 10 Ghanaians (30%) describe the country’s economic conditions as “fairly good” or “very good,” a modest decline from 35% recorded in 2017.

Still, more than half are optimistic that things will get better in a year’s time.

Fewer than four in 10 (37%) say their personal living conditions are “fairly good” or “very good.” § And only 31% say the country’s economic condition has improved over the past 12 months. But more than half (54%) are optimistic that things will be “better” or ”much better” in 12 months’ time.

The survey also suggests that majority of citizens say government is performing “fairly badly” or “very badly” in narrowing income gaps (66%), improving the living standards of the poor (56%), and creating jobs (54%).

According to the survey, approval ratings on indicators of the government’s economic performance have declined sharply compared to 2017, with approval on management of the economy recording the steepest drop, by 20 percentage points

Ghana has received positive reviews from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank and made important economic strides, including the successful completion of the IMF bailout program and a clean-up of the financial sector. But so far these successes appear not to have translated into concrete gains recognized by most citizens.

Afrobarometer survey
The Afrobarometer team in Ghana, led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), interviewed 2,400 adult Ghanaians between 16 September and 3 October 2019.

A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Ghana in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2017.