The World Bank has downgraded its ratings for the Ghana Energy Sector Recovery Program (P173258) from “Moderately Satisfactory” to “Unsatisfactory”, according to details in the global lender’s latest
Implementation and StatusReport dated 30 June 2026.
Both the progress towards the achievement of the Project Development Objective (PDO) and the overall Implementation Progress (IP) have been downgraded, whilst the overall risk rating remains flagged as “Substantial”.
The severe downgrade is heavily linked to a lack of commitment authorization from Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, which has blocked key disbursements required to facilitate the achievement of program targets.
This lack of financial clearance has stalled several high-priority deliverables, particularly the rollout of smart consumer meters by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The program aims to install over one million smart meters by December 2027, including 600,000 under the project, 450,000 under the broader program, and 8,000 within non-strategic Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
However, progress on these installations remains stagnant at zero due to the ongoing funding bottleneck.
Beyond the metering setbacks, the report notes that ECG’s electricity losses hovered around 26.88 per cent as of mid-2026, dropping only slightly from 28.40 per cent in December 2022, with a target of reaching 19.20 per cent by late 2027.
Efforts to implement an updated Customer Information System (CIS) also remain pending, though some progress was recorded as ECG successfully published its gender-disaggregated results of annual customer satisfaction surveys.
The World Bank highlighted that the program, which became effective on 18 March 2025, has faced severe implementation timelines disruptions stemming from national elections and the subsequent transition to the new administration.
The formulation of new procurement directives and disbursement caps further delayed key disbursement-linked results.
The Washington-based lender noted that accelerated delivery and the achievement of intended outcomes will heavily rely on better coordination among implementing agencies and the government regarding the approval processes.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
