Professor George Gyan-Baffour is a distinguished Ghanaian economist, academic, development planner, and former public servant whose career spans academia, public policy, economic planning, and parliamentary leadership.
Born on March 27, 1951, in Wenchi in the Bono Region of Ghana, Professor Gyan-Baffour received his early education at Methodist Primary School in Tromeso and Wenchi LA/RC Middle School. He attended Opoku Ware Secondary School in Kumasi for his Ordinary Level education and completed his Advanced Level studies at Dormaa Secondary School in Dormaa-Ahenkro.
He earned a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Economics from the University of Ghana in 1974. He later pursued graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, obtaining a Master’s degree in Development Economics in 1985 and a PhD in Industrial Relations in 1992. He also holds a post-doctoral diploma from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Professor Gyan-Baffour has built an accomplished academic career, teaching at several universities in the United States, including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Virginia State University, and Howard University. In 1995, he was recognized as the Best Instructor in the Howard University MBA Programme by the Graduate Business Students Council of the Howard University Business School. He has authored more than twenty professional publications in respected journals in the United States and Europe and published the textbook Strategic Management: Concepts and Analysis in 2015.
His contribution to Ghana’s development planning began in earnest when he was appointed Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) from 2002 to 2004. During this period, he oversaw the preparation of Ghana’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy (2003–2005), introduced the Annual Progress Report monitoring and evaluation framework, initiated the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (2006–2009), and supervised the preparation of the Coordinated Programme for the Economic and Social Development of Ghana (2002–2012).
In 2004, Professor Gyan-Baffour was elected Member of Parliament for the Wenchi Constituency, a position he held from 2005 to 2020. During his parliamentary career, he served on several key committees, including the Education Committee, Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee, Special Budget Committee, and Poverty Reduction Committee.
He served as Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning from 2005 to 2008 and later as Minister for Planning from 2017 to 2020. As Minister for Planning, he chaired the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), served on the Government’s Economic Management Team, and chaired the ECOWAS Council of Ministers for Planning. He also supervised the preparation of major national development frameworks, including the Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies.
Following his ministerial service, he was appointed Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, where he oversaw the preparation of the Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies (2022–2025) and the development of Vision 2057, Ghana’s long-term national development vision.
Professor Gyan-Baffour is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Economists of Ghana and has served on numerous national boards, including the Bank of Ghana, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER).
His international engagements include serving as Global Ambassador for the United Nations Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and as Ghana’s Focal Person for the United Nations Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, where he also served on the Executive Committee representing Central and Eastern Africa.
Through decades of scholarship, public service, and leadership, Professor George Gyan-Baffour has played a pivotal role in shaping Ghana’s economic policy, national development planning, and sustainable development agenda.