Ghana’s dramatic monetary turnaround has emerged as one of the central highlight in Rand Merchant Bank’s (RMB) Where to Invest in Africa 2026/27 report.
The publication gave a spotlight on how Ghana successfully tamed runaway inflation and engineered a sharp currency stabilization following its severe 2022 macroeconomic crisis.
A Historic Fall in Inflation
After grappling with severe price pressures during its debt default, Ghana achieved a remarkable disinflation milestone.
Consumer price inflation, which stood above 23% at the beginning of 2025, plummeted to 5.4% by December 2025 and reached a low of 3.2% in March 2026.
This represented the lowest inflation rate recorded since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was rebased in 2021 and brought price growth comfortably below the Bank of Ghana’s target band of 8%±2% for the first time in years.
Although inflation edged up slightly to 5.3% in June 2026 due to higher fuel prices, it remained well within manageable levels.
The Cedi’s Turnaround and Growing Reserve Buffers
Ghana’s national currency, the cedi, experienced an equally dramatic shift. After ranking as the world’s worst-performing currency during the 2022 crisis when it lost nearly half its value at its trough, the cedi staged a powerful recovery, appreciating by approximately 41% against the US dollar in 2025.
This rally was backed by a massive expansion in foreign exchange reserves. Driven by record gold export earnings of roughly US$21 billion under the “Gold for Reserves” initiative and supported by a US$3 billion IMF Extended Credit Facility program, gross international reserves rose to approximately US$14.4 billion by mid-May 2026.
In the first five months of 2026, the cedi partially reversed its gains, depreciating by about 8% as corporate dollar demand, dividend repatriations, and elevated oil import costs reasserted themselves.
Sustainable Competitiveness Over Currency Fixing
Addressing this currency movement, Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Asiama cautioned against over-interpreting short-term fluctuations, emphasizing that “stability does not mean fixing the cedi”.
He noted that the central bank’s overarching goal is sustainable macroeconomic stability rather than temporary exchange rate pegs.
RMB’s report observes that converting gold price windfalls and tight monetary policy into durable, long-term competitiveness remains Ghana’s primary structural objective.
Overall, the RMB report underscores that Ghana’s success in conquering runaway inflation and rebuilding external buffers provides a compelling case study of post-crisis macroeconomic recovery.
