Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama is due to address the Financial Times Africa Summit in London on October 21 as his government prepares to unveil details of a revised $10bn economic transformation programme, although questions remain about its timetable and how it intends to finance it.
Mahama will take part in the opening keynote interview at the two-day gathering of African leaders, investors and business executives, where financing, trade and industrial development will dominate discussions, the Ghana News Agency reported.
His appearance follows Ghana’s participation in the October 12–18 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, where Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson sought to attract investment and development financing. The government is attempting to turn the country’s hard-won economic stabilisation into industrial growth, value-added production and employment.
The $10bn investment plan
Central to that ambition is the New Economy programme, which targets government investment across nine priority sectors, including agriculture and agribusiness, textiles and garments, pharmaceuticals and tourism. Speaking during an October 13 meeting with traditional leaders, Mahama said the money would come from the government’s own resources. “We are not going to borrow money for the New Economy Policy,” he said, adding that lower Treasury bill rates would allow banks to lend to private companies at about 13%, enabling them to invest, expand and hire.
The proposed government spending envelope is distinct from the private investment and development financing Ghana hopes to attract to support its wider industrial ambitions.
The programme's timetable has shifted since it was first announced in August as a four-year initiative involving $2.5bn annually across seven sectors, with half earmarked for agriculture. In September, the government expanded the priorities to nine sectors and indicated annual spending of about $2bn. Mahama described a five-year programme on October 13, but two days later referred to four years at $2bn annually during the Afienya Industrial Park groundbreaking, the Ghanaian Times reported. The latter formulation totals $8bn rather than $10bn, leaving the 2027 budget to clarify the intended spending schedule.
Funding and fiscal constraints
More consequential is what the headline figure represents. The $10bn remains a proposed government investment envelope rather than an independently verified funding commitment. The government has yet to explain how much would constitute new expenditure and how much would cover existing allocations or redirected spending under initiatives such as the 24-Hour Economy programme and the Big Push infrastructure agenda.
Ghana’s improved fiscal position offers some room for manoeuvre. The country completed its $3bn IMF bailout programme in July, marking an important stage in its recovery from the debt crisis that forced a sovereign restructuring.
Under a subsequent 36-month, non-financing IMF Policy Coordination Instrument, the government plans to reduce its primary budget surplus target from 1.5% of GDP in 2026 to 0.5% from 2027, while retaining its legislated debt target of 45% of GDP by 2034. However, the proposed relaxation would also require changes to Ghana’s fiscal framework, because a 2025 amendment to the Public Financial Management Act established a minimum annual primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP.
That one-percentage-point relaxation would create additional budgetary flexibility, but not a dedicated $2bn annual funding stream. Nor does the successor IMF arrangement provide fresh disbursements. Delivering the programme without undermining Ghana’s debt commitments will depend on domestic revenue mobilisation, spending priorities and the government’s ability to implement projects efficiently.
The IMF framework also includes a proposed end-December 2026 reform target requiring that, starting with the 2027 budget, only properly appraised projects with budget appropriations be authorised for commitment. Those requirements will test how much of the New Economy programme can move beyond policy ambition into funded projects.
Private-sector concerns
Financing is only part of the challenge. Emmanuel Acquah, co-founder and chief executive of Accra-based policy think tank ACEYE, has questioned whether the initiative can produce lasting results without tackling the obstacles facing private enterprise. Writing in The High Street Journal on October 18, he argued for simpler business licensing, less bureaucracy and stronger protection of property rights and contracts.
The criticism goes to the heart of Mahama’s proposed division of labour between the state and private sector. Public expenditure may improve infrastructure and productive capacity, but businesses still need predictable rules and access to capital if they are to generate the investment and jobs the government is promising.
2027 budget to provide crucial test
The Finance Ministry has said the programme will be formally unveiled in the 2027 budget. Forson indicated in September that he would present the budget to parliament in the first week of November, ahead of the November 15 deadline set by the Public Financial Management Act. The presentation should identify which projects are ready for budgetary approval.
The economic backdrop is more favourable than it was during Ghana’s debt crisis. The IMF raised its 2026 growth forecast to 5.7% in October from 4.6% in April, although it expects growth to moderate to 5.2% in 2027. Ghana’s recovery has been supported by sovereign debt restructuring, fiscal consolidation and stronger commodity prices. (See IntelliNews: OUTLOOK 2026 Ghana).
Inflation has also eased substantially, notwithstanding a modest increase to 5.2% in September from 5.0% in August, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. Both readings were below the Bank of Ghana’s 6–10% target range.
Mahama is set to address the London summit with a stronger macroeconomic story than Ghana could offer during its debt emergency. The more demanding test will come in November, when the government must show which projects it intends to fund, where the money will come from and how its industrial ambitions fit within Ghana’s fiscal constraints.