ABSTRACT
The contexts of 'policy for regional development' and statutory planning are now set out. This includes outlining the national development plans in Ghana from the earliest to the present. The objective is to identify the rates of implementation success in the regions and validity of the plans to the material conditions in intra-regional planning. The more specific contexts of socio-economic and spatial development are also presented in relation to the demographic, administrative and economic aspects. The socio-political parts emphasize improvements in public institutional structures for addressing private sector needs. Ghana is reputed as being the first country under British colonial rule and one of the first in the modern world to make a national development plan. Development planning does occur within specific contexts. These include the economic, demographic-population, political-administrative and geographical components. The overwhelming reliance on macro-economic policies and strategies sponsored by international financial institutions obviously ties the Ghanaian state to these organizations and seriously reduces its economic independence.
