THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ECONOMIC GROWTH. THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE IN GHANA AND IVORY COAST.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic put people in challenging positions all across the world. Its’ impact, however, could be more severe for others, particularly for people living in Third World nations who are in great need and whose living conditions may worsen if ignored. This research focuses on the economic and governance effects of the pandemic on the economies of Africa, using Ghana and Ivory Coast economies as a case study. The research firstly used yearly data from 1960 to 2018 to investigate the impact of governance before the COVID-19 event. Secondly, the study employed after COVID-19 specifics using time series data. The ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model was applied. For the outcome, findings revealed that before COVID-19 started, governance had a positive and significant effect on economic growth in Ghana and Ivory Coast, but the beneficial effect was greater in Ghana. We also discovered that in the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, new cases in Ghana and Ivory Coast decreased economic growth, and the governance in Ghana was detrimental to economic growth. In Ivory Coast, the effect was positive and increased growth. In essence, our findings showed that the interaction term between governance and COVID-19 was negative and significant in Ghana, while the effect was positive and significant in Ivory Coast. These opposite effects meant that the measures used to address this pandemic were not beneficial to economic growth in Ghana as compared to the situation in Ivory Coast. The government of Ghana should alleviate human suffering and accelerate the economy's recovery from the downturn suggestively. The research concluded with several policy recommendations that support strong governance in making economies robust during pandemics. Keywords: Economy, COVID-19, Governance, Ghana, Ivory Coast