Ghana Has Shifted from Crisis Management to Recovery Management — Prof. Gyeke-Dako
Ghana’s economy has moved from crisis management into a recovery phase, with macroeconomic stability now providing a stronger foundation for households and businesses, Professor Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako of the University of Ghana Business School has said.
Speaking during a Joy business roundtable discussion on the theme, “Mahama at 16 Months: Do Economic Narratives Match Real-Sector Outcomes?”, Prof. Gyeke-Dako said Ghana’s recent economic gains show that the country is no longer merely responding to crisis conditions but managing the early stages of recovery.
“So first of all, I’ll say that we have moved from managing crisis to a point where we are actually managing recovery,” she said.
Her assessment adds to a growing debate over the extent to which Ghana’s improving macroeconomic indicators are translating into real-sector outcomes for firms, households and workers.
Prof. Gyeke-Dako said the macroeconomic stabilisation process has been largely successful, though she acknowledged that transmission to households and businesses is still taking time.
“I say this on the basis that macroeconomic stability has largely been successful, but then maybe the transmission of that success to households and firms is what is taking some time,” she noted. She added that some firms are already experiencing stronger gains from the improved environment.
At the heart of the recovery, she argued, is exchange rate stability. “Now the game changer here has been the exchange rates, in my opinion,” Prof. Gyeke-Dako said. “The stability that we are experiencing with the exchange rate has changed everything.”
The cedi’s relative stability has become one of the main anchors of Ghana’s post-crisis narrative, particularly after years in which currency volatility fed directly into inflation, business uncertainty, imported costs and pricing instability.
Prof. Gyeke-Dako said Ghana’s exchange rate performance has also helped cushion the economy from external shocks, including geopolitical tensions that could have intensified energy and import cost pressures.
Referencing global risks, she said Ghana would have been more exposed to pain from such shocks if the exchange rate had remained unstable. “We are not really feeling the pain that we would have felt if the exchange rate were troubled,” she said.
She also pointed to recent currency appreciation, noting that Ghana had experienced an appreciation of the exchange rate for the first time since 1994. According to her, the cedi appreciated by about 41 per cent in 2025, while the year-on-year appreciation in 2026 is estimated at roughly 27 per cent.
Prof. Gyeke-Dako attributed the improvement largely to the gold purchase programme, through which the Bank of Ghana has built up its reserves and strengthened its market credibility. She said Ghana now has close to six months of import cover, improving the central bank’s ability to intermediate in the foreign exchange market and restrain speculative activity.
The exchange rate gains have also supported inflation control. Ghana’s inflation has eased sharply, with Prof. Gyeke-Dako noting that inflation is now around 3.2 per cent, a level she described as highly positive for price stability. “Now this same exchange rate stability has helped in inflation control,” she said. “The spiral in inflation that we have been seeing has actually gone down. We now have inflation around about 3.2 per cent or so, which is extremely good for us because at least prices are stable.”
She further acknowledged the role of the Bank of Ghana’s open market operations in supporting stability, while noting that such interventions come at a cost. According to her, policy actions have helped restore order to the macroeconomic environment, even though every intervention has trade-offs.
For businesses, the improved exchange rate and lower inflation environment offer something that was largely absent during the crisis years: predictability.
“With exchange rates stable, with inflation also down to about 3 per cent, at least there’s some certainty in the environment,” Prof. Gyeke-Dako said. “Businesses are able to plan; households can even plan. So there have been some gains.”
Her comments frame Ghana’s recovery as a two-stage process. The first stage is stabilisation, which is increasingly visible in the headline indicators. The second stage is transmission to firms, households, jobs and incomes, which remains incomplete.
That distinction is now becoming central to Ghana’s economic debate. The government can point to inflation, reserves, exchange rate performance and improved market confidence as evidence of recovery. But citizens and businesses will judge the recovery by purchasing power, access to credit, lower operating costs, job creation and income security.
For Prof. Gyeke-Dako, Ghana has crossed an important threshold. The economy is no longer in the depths of crisis. But the challenge now is to manage recovery in a way that makes macroeconomic stability durable, inclusive and visible in daily economic life.
