President John Dramani Mahama, has provided clarity on his economic agenda for Ghana, explaining how his policy initiatives coordinate to ensure sustainability and growth.
Speaking at the University of Ghana’s 77th Annual New Year School and Conference, he mentioned that his focus has been to reset the economy through structural reforms and policy shifts to reorient Ghana’s economic outlook. According to President Mahama, the Ghanaian economy must be grounded in output growth and expansion to reduce the impact of external shocks.
“A sustainable Ghana must rest on a productive, diversified, and resilient economy. One that is capable of withstanding shocks while creating opportunities for all.”
H.E. President John Dramani Mahama
The blueprint for the government’s economic agenda, as he outlined, links major initiatives that may seem isolated. He declared that there is a comprehensive economic growth and development policy aimed at resetting Ghana, increasing productivity, expanding various sectors of the economy to reduce over-reliance on one sector for growth, and promoting inclusivity to build a robust and resilient Ghana.
Export Value Addition Policy
Experts have established that exporting raw products from Ghana to other countries is one of the challenges the Ghanaian economy faces. Reviewing Ghana’s economic agenda to recalibrate the structure of productivity, exports, and revenues is a way to address this challenge.
Ghana has implemented the value addition strategy on a small scale, leaving the challenge to linger. President Mahama has assured Ghanaians that the government will implement export value addition policy initiatives to refine a major part of Ghana’s main products from the extractive sector to the agriculture sector. This will boost manufacturing and the industrial sector in general.
“Our development model must decisively move away from excessive dependence on raw material exports towards value addition, industrial production, and knowledge-based enterprise.”
H.E. President John Dramani Mahama
President Mahama has disclosed the government’s initiative to unveil and implement a value addition policy this year. He emphasized that 2026 is the game-changer, where the previous year’s foundations will be built upon.
“We will roll out a policy this year that requires value addition to our minerals, to our petroleum, and agricultural products before export.”
H.E. President John Dramani Mahama
The Pivot of the 24-Hour Economy
According to the President, the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development program are at the center of his economic agenda, linking all the policy initiatives together. Establishing the various projects is key to implementing the 24-Hour Economy.
He further opined that his policy initiatives are not isolated but coordinated, so Ghanaians will soon see the 24-Hour Economy in its full glory. Export value addition is at the heart of the 24-Hour Economy, and the 24-Hour Economy is the heart of the reset economic agenda.
“It is in this context [export value addition] that my government has placed the 24-hour economy and accelerated export development program at the heart of our reset agenda.”
H.E. President John Dramani Mahama
According to President Mahama, “this program [24-Hour Economy] is not a slogan,” adding that “it is a structural transformation strategy to extend productivity beyond daylight hours, deepen manufacturing, support logistics and agro-processing, and create millions of decent jobs across the value chain.”
Economic development, job creation, macroeconomic growth and stability, and diversification are the government’s focus, President Mahama reiterated.
Conducive Economic Environment Ready for the Reset
Establishing and implementing the various policy initiatives, both those already in place and those yet to be implemented, requires fertile soil to germinate, Mahama insinuated. The government, therefore, focused on building the environment for the take-off of the economic agenda.
It is for this reason that the government used its first year to stabilize the economy and create a conducive economic environment for the reset agenda. The stability in 2025 has revolutionized Ghana’s outlook internally and externally. In 2026, we are ready to build on the laid economic stability.
“This can only be achieved in an environment that is conducive to investment. And this is why my administration has moved quickly to implement the urgent reforms that are required to stabilize and grow our economy.”
H.E. President John Dramani Mahama
The president recounted some of the achievements that form part of the foundation laid in 2025 to propel growth and the implementation of various policies in 2026.
“We have achieved measurable success, including a stable currency touted as the best performing in the world for the year 2025,” the President mentioned. He further recounted that “inflation fell from 23.8 percent at the end of 2024 to just above 5 percent by the end of 2025.”
“Debt falling from above 66 percent of GDP at the end of 2024 to 45 percent of GDP at the end of 2025” is a significant achievement that the President did not miss out. He again mentioned that “foreign reserves rose from US$ 8.9 billion at the end of 2024 to US$ 13.8 billion at the end of 2025.”
The President, therefore, urged Ghanaians to be patient with the government and continue supporting the reset of the country and the full implementation of its economic agenda.
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