AI gains can lift three times as many people out of poverty in Ghana – World Bank

Distributional simulations for Ghana suggest that broadly shared Artificial Intelligence (AI) gains can lift three times as many people out of poverty as when they are concentrated among households already positioned to use AI, a World Bank report has disclosed.

Therefore, it said expanding access to affordable and reliable 5G, or the highest-quality mobile broadband technology feasible, requires a strategy that combines spatial concentration with broader economic integration.

Given the high fixed costs of digital infrastructure, investments in connectivity, electricity, digital skills, and computing capacity should be prioritised in productive urban centers and secondary cities, where agglomeration effects can accelerate AI adoption and productivity gains, the October 2026 Africa Economic Update stated ahead of the Annual World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings which is taking place this time around in Bangkok, Thailand.

At the same time, the Bretton Woods institution said these hubs should be connected to poorer rural and underserved areas through lower-cost feeder infrastructure and targeted digital services.

It added that ensuring that coverage translates into effective use will also require complementary investments in reliable electricity, affordable devices, and data affordability.

“The decisive policy question is not how many people can be covered by a nominal network signal, but how many poor households can afford a suitable device, keep it charged, obtain reliable high-speed service, and use locally relevant AI applications”.

The report stated that if African countries make that transition, AI can become a platform for broad-based productivity growth and poverty reduction. If they do not, it will amplify the advantages of those already connected.

AI Transforming African Economies

According to the World Bank, AI is already transforming the African economies, but the scale and distribution of the gains are still limited.

It mentioned that some early signals are encouraging, showing that African countries have become increasingly active in software development since the AI boom.

Nigeria’s GitHub developer base has expanded tenfold since 2020 and Ghana’s nearly eightfold, with new registrations accelerating after free AI coding assistants became available.