Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam believes the 24-hour economy promised by President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a hoax.
According to him, this is clear as the 2025 Budget fails to provide any concrete plans for its execution.
“You take the budget and look at it, there were only references to the 24-hour economy. There’s no programme on the implementation of the 24-hour economy. And once there’s no programme on the implementation, it would mean that there’s no allocation of funds towards the implementation,” he stated during an interview on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV on Monday, March 17.
He further questioned Finance Minister Dr. Ato Forson’s assurance that the initiative would be launched later in 2025, insisting that without budgetary support, the plan remains unrealistic.
“The finance minister said they would launch it later this year, but even if you launch it and there’s no allocation, how do you even implement that? Are you going to launch and wait till 2026, when you have to make allocation to really implement the 24-hour economy? So, this is deceptive as far as job creation is concerned,” he insisted.
Dr. Amin Adam’s remarks add to ongoing debates over the viability of the 24-hour economy policy and its potential impact on Ghana’s economic growth.
The 24-hour Economy is a deliberate policy intervention by the next NDC/Mahama government to encourage and support certain businesses and companies to operate 24/7, preferably in a three-shift system of 8 hours
each, by creating an enabling environment that promotes productivity, competitiveness and well-paying jobs.
The 24-hour Economy is mainly anchored on Mahama’s overarching vision to create sustainable jobs for Ghanaians. This will be achieved through his agenda to: modernize and mechanize agriculture; provide incentives
for the private sector to thrive; promote agroprocessing and manufacturing; transform Ghana into an import substitution and export led economy, among others.
The 24-hour economy policy will be a major boost for John Mahama’s import substitution and export drive. This will stabilize our national currency, improve our reserves, bring down inflation and interest rates, create more
employment opportunities and improve livelihoods.
