Ghana Laces Its Boots for A National Integrated Business Survey

Ready for the big reveal?

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is preparing feverishly to soon begin a nationwide census of all businesses located within the country. The West African nation has conducted economic censuses both in 1987 and also in 2003 under the name “National Industrial Census“. However in 2013, they named this census the “Integrated Business Establishment Survey” popularly known as IBES (pronounced as: eye-bess). The 2023 edition, bearing the same name will be conducted across three (3) key sectors; Agriculture, Industry and the Services.

According to the GSS, the IBES is an economic census to be conducted on the full set of economic units across all sectors of Ghana’s economy. These economic units include all establishments undertaking any form of economic activity in Ghana. The Exercise is due to commence in early 2024.

The IBES is structured in two phases, IBES I and IBES II.

Phase I is a census of all establishments/businesses in Ghana to produce a business register for Ghana. IBES II will be a sample survey which will focus on collecting detailed data on operational activities of businesses in all the sectors of the economy.

The 2023 IBES focusses on economic activities of both households and non-household.

The data that will be collected through the 2023 IBES is relevant to both government and private sector for several policy actions.

Examples Of Establishments That Will Be Captured During The IBES

1. Businesses operating in structure (hotels, schools, universities, clinics, shops, stalls, mosques, churches, fitting shops, etc)
2. Businesses operating in an open space but Fixed location
3. Businesses operating in structures not intended for its original purpose (these include: churches in school buildings and Sunday markets)
4. Mobile businesses (these include: vehicle/animal-assisted mobile businesses, mobile vans, carts, sellers of phone accessories on trucks, sellers of ice cream on bicycle, sellers of coconut in wheelbarrows, selling on an animal as it pertains mostly in the north, hawking of all kinds)
5. Virtual Establishments/businesses (these include online businesses like Jumia, Tonaton, Businesses that use social media platforms as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, etc.)

All establishments will be covered in the 2023 IBES irrespective of the size of the business.

Why Must Ghana Conduct IBES in 2023

The relevance of the data from the IBES cannot be overemphasized. The data is relevant to both
government and private sector for several policy actions.

1. The data collected from the IBES will provide employment figures for all sectors which will be readily available for policy and research
2. IBES will also help to implement measures to address business death rate in the country
3. updating the performance of the overall economy and guide future policies;
4. forming the foundation for Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP);
5. helping to make informed decisions about the health of the economy;
6. being used to assess business activities and develop programs to attract new businesses;
7. helping private businesses to identify possible new business locations based on other, similar
   businesses in an area;
8. being used by businesses that sell their products to other businesses to evaluate markets and plan
   sales strategies for growth; and
9. helping the private sector make evidence-based business decisions based on excellent data that
   gives firms a competitive advantage.

The GSS hopes that all Ghanaians help in whichever ways they could to make the 2023 IBES a success for the future development of mother Ghana.