Development Bank Ghana (DBG) and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) have begun work on Ghana’s first recurring index measuring the performance and development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
More than 100 trained enumerators are interviewing over 5,000 businesses across all 16 regions during October and November. The first DBG-GSS MSME Development Index (MDex) report is expected by the end of January 2027.
The index was launched in Accra last week, following a memorandum of understanding signed by the two institutions on September 8. DBG Chief Economist Prof. Eric Osei-Assibey represented the bank’s Chief Executive, Prof. Randolph Nsor-Ambala, while the GSS was represented by Deputy Government Statistician Alhaji Omar Seidu.
The survey will assess businesses across eight areas: profitability, productivity and growth; the operating environment; use of innovation and digital tools; resilience and access to finance; sustainability and the adoption of greener practices; inclusion and social impact; governance and formalisation; and productive capacity and resources.
Responses from business owners will be combined with objective indicators. The partners say the measure is intended to show how firms are performing, identify their financing needs and constraints, and track how conditions change between surveys.
The GSS’s 2024 Integrated Business Establishment Survey recorded about 1.9 million business establishments in Ghana. Nearly 90 per cent had fewer than five workers.
Although smaller firms account for a significant proportion of employment and economic activity, Ghana has not previously had a regular composite measure of their performance, according to the two organisations.
The GSS has also been expanding its measurement of the private economy. In July, it launched a national framework aimed at standardising the collection of data on informal markets.
DBG is financing the index and coordinating work with stakeholders. The GSS is responsible for designing the survey, gathering and analysing the data, and publishing the findings.
The enumerators were recruited from across the country. Their local knowledge and ability to speak the languages used by the businesses being surveyed are intended to support the fieldwork. Training covered international statistical standards and quality-control procedures.
“Development finance is most effective when it is guided by credible evidence,” Prof. Osei-Assibey said at the launch.
“It will help Ghana understand which MSMEs are growing, where productivity is improving, what constraints are holding firms back and how financing and policy interventions can be better targeted,” he added.
He said the findings would improve market intelligence for DBG’s participating financial institutions, which pass its funds on to businesses, and help “de-risk the MSME sector”.
Mr Seidu said accurate and timely information was vital to business growth. “When data accurately reflects the realities of businesses, it becomes a powerful tool for transformation,” he said.
The results are expected to help DBG and its partner banks identify which firms are expanding or struggling when deciding where to lend. They will also provide a way to assess whether business-support programmes are producing results.
A recent opinion piece on 3News argued that tax reliefs were failing to reach smaller firms because compliance costs absorbed the benefits.
Fieldwork will continue until November. After the initial report in January 2027, the index is intended to be repeated, tracking changes in productivity, competitiveness, innovation, jobs and sustainability across regions and sectors.
DBG is marking its fifth anniversary this year. It was established to give banks access to long-term funding that could be lent on to productive businesses.
