- Ato Forson Says Ghana Has Moved From Debt Distress to Stability Ahead of Schedule
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has announced that Ghana has successfully concluded the final review of its current IMF-supported bailout programme, pending approval by the IMF Executive Board, marking what government describes as a shift from crisis management to reform partnership.
Addressing Parliament, Dr Forson said Ghana’s economy had moved from a period of severe fiscal distress, high inflation, currency depreciation and loss of market access to a more stable macroeconomic footing, ahead of the original timeline under the programme.
“It signifies Ghana’s passage from crisis management to stability, from dependence on financial bailout to partnership in reform and from uncertainty to renewed confidence in our economic future,” the Minister told the House.
According to him, Ghana’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund will now transition from the current financing arrangement to a non-financing Policy Coordination Instrument, a framework designed for countries that do not require IMF financing but seek policy credibility, reform monitoring and regular external validation.
“For Ghana, this marks an important shift from seeking financial bailout to engaging as a credible reform partner and continuing to benefit from policy discipline, external validation and strengthened investor confidence,” Dr Forson said.
The Finance Minister framed the transition as a major turning point in government’s economic reset agenda, saying Ghana had moved from what he described as the “intensive care unit” of crisis management to a “wellness centre” of reform credibility.
“In other words, Mr Speaker, Ghana has moved from the Intensive Care Unit to the Wellness Centre,” he said.
The announcement comes after years of economic turbulence that forced Ghana to seek a $3 billion IMF bailout in 2023, following debt distress, inflation above 50 per cent, sharp depreciation of the cedi, repeated sovereign credit rating downgrades and loss of access to international capital markets.
Dr Forson recounted that Ghana formally requested debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework in December 2022 to restructure more than $5 billion in bilateral debt, after earlier announcing that it could no longer meet maturing domestic debt obligations.
He said the resulting debt restructuring imposed significant costs on domestic bondholders, pension funds, banks, insurance companies, individual investors and pensioners, while households and businesses also suffered from inflation, currency depreciation, high interest rates and weakened investor confidence.
The Minister argued that the current administration had recalibrated the IMF programme in 2025 to restore discipline, improve expenditure control and deepen structural reforms.
Among the measures he cited were amendments to the Public Financial Management Act, introduction of commitment authorisation to control government expenditure, audits of arrears and payables, the creation of the Gold Board, operationalisation of a Sinking Fund, removal of taxes such as the E-Levy, betting tax and emissions tax, establishment of the Office for Value for Money and the Independent Fiscal Council, and renegotiation of independent power producer agreements.
Dr Forson said the IPP renegotiations had saved more than $250 million, while government had cleared more than $1 billion in legacy arrears in the energy sector. He also pointed to a reduction in ministries from 30 to 23 and ministers of state from 123 to 60 as part of government’s expenditure restraint measures.
According to the Finance Minister, the reforms have produced measurable results.
He said real GDP growth reached 6 per cent in 2025, while non-oil GDP growth reached 7.6 per cent, the highest in 14 years. He added that Ghana’s economy crossed the $100 billion threshold in 2025, with per capita income rising to $3,385.
On fiscal performance, Dr Forson said the primary balance recorded a surplus of 2.5 per cent of GDP in 2025, while public debt declined to 44.7 per cent of GDP by the end of the year, ahead of the 2034 target of 45 per cent under the debt sustainability framework.
He said Ghana had moved from a high risk of debt distress to a moderate risk of debt distress for the first time in 12 years, while debt service to domestic revenue improved from 55.7 per cent in 2022 to 28.8 per cent in 2025, even with the resumption of full Eurobond obligations.
The Minister further stated that inflation had declined to 3.4 per cent in April 2026, while the 91-day Treasury bill rate had fallen by more than 2,300 basis points, from 28.4 per cent in January 2025 to 4.8 per cent in April 2026.
He also said the monetary policy rate had declined by 1,300 basis points, from 27 per cent in January 2025 to 14 per cent in April 2026, while the cedi appreciated by 40.7 per cent against the US dollar in 2025.
“Fiscal prudence and discipline always delivers results,” Dr Forson told Parliament, adding that macroeconomic stability is the foundation for jobs, income, investor confidence and national prosperity.
The Finance Minister said the government would not pursue another IMF financial bailout in the foreseeable future, echoing President John Dramani Mahama’s earlier pledge that Ghana’s current IMF programme should be the country’s last bailout arrangement.
He said the planned Policy Coordination Instrument would help Ghana continue to benefit from IMF policy assessment and technical expertise while strengthening investor confidence and supporting further improvements in the country’s credit rating.
The next phase of the government’s agenda, according to Dr Forson, will be captured in a new economic programme to be unveiled as part of the 2027 budget.
He said the new programme, described as the “New Economy,” would move Ghana from stabilisation to transformation, with a focus on sustainable jobs, higher productivity, economic resilience and broad-based prosperity.
The policy shift is significant for investors, businesses and development partners. A transition from IMF financing to a non-financing framework would suggest that Ghana no longer sees itself as needing emergency balance-of-payments support, but still wants a credible policy anchor to preserve discipline.
But the durability of the gains will depend on execution.
Ghana’s recent history shows how quickly fiscal slippages, election-year spending pressures, currency instability and weak expenditure controls can undermine macroeconomic progress. The proposed Policy Coordination Instrument may therefore serve as a credibility bridge between the end of bailout financing and the start of a more domestically anchored reform framework.
For now, Dr Forson’s message to Parliament was unmistakable: Ghana, in government’s view, has exited the most acute phase of the crisis.
The harder test is whether the country can convert stabilisation into jobs, productivity, private-sector growth and a fiscal culture strong enough to prevent another return to the IMF’s bailout window.
