Deloitte Ghana’s Country Managing Partner, Daniel Kwadwo Owusu, has made a strong case for the extension of Ghana’s ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, citing significant macroeconomic improvements and renewed investor confidence as key outcomes.
Speaking at the 9th Ghana CEO Summit, Mr. Owusu urged the government to consider extending the programme by an additional one to two years beyond its scheduled conclusion in June 2026.
Ghana secured a $3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) from the IMF in May 2023 to stabilize its economy, and Mr. Owusu believes prolonging the programme would help consolidate the progress achieved thus far.
“The programme has brought fiscal discipline, which we haven’t done well without the IMF,” he noted, highlighting how the initiative has bolstered both domestic and international investor confidence.
According to Mr. Owusu, the Ghanaian economy demonstrated resilience in 2024, recording a 5.7% growth rate driven largely by the mining and quarrying sub-sectors. However, he stressed that economic transformation is crucial if Ghana is to sustainably generate employment and reduce aid dependency.
“The current growth trajectory requires the country to restructure the economy. This is the reason I support the President’s idea of a reset,” he added.
He warned against overreliance on the services sector, describing it as a structural weakness that could undermine job creation. Citing World Bank estimates, he noted that over 150,000 students graduate from Ghanaian universities each year, underscoring the urgent need for a bold, job-generating economic strategy.
One such strategy, Mr. Owusu suggested, lies in fully implementing agricultural initiatives under the 2025 Budget. “The ‘Feed Ghana’ and ‘Feed the Industry’ initiatives are very important because they will not only feed the nation but also serve as raw materials for the manufacturing industries, create jobs in the agriculture value chain and the manufacturing sector, and address the high food inflation,” he stated.
“These policies must be implemented with clear-cut strategies and targeted timelines to enable the government to achieve its vision,” he emphasized.
On Ghana’s balance of payments, Mr. Owusu cautioned that the nation’s recent positive trends could face headwinds once external debt servicing resumes in May 2026. “This could affect our foreign reserves and consequently the cedi,” he warned.
He commended the government’s efforts in managing the economy but called for a deliberate strategy to boost foreign reserves.
“We cannot continue to rely on cocoa as our main cash crop. We must deliberately diversify the Non-Traditional Exports base by targeting other cash crops such as oil palm, shea nut, rubber, and cashew. We must grow these into cash-cow commodities that will bring in the much-needed earnings in foreign exchange,” Mr. Owusu asserted.
Addressing inflation, he projected a decline toward the government’s 11.9% year-end target if cedi stability is sustained and supply-side pressures, particularly food price,s are addressed.
“If the cedi can sustain its recent stability and supply-side factors can be improved to ease the rise in food prices, we should see a gradual decline in inflation,” Mr. Owusu said.
With investor confidence rising, economic growth accelerating, and fiscal reforms gaining traction, Deloitte’s top executive believes that extending the IMF programme would provide Ghana with the stability and discipline needed to maintain its positive momentum and create a springboard for deeper structural reforms.
