The Country Managing Partner of Deloitte Ghana, Daniel Kwadwo Owusu, has urged the government to consider extending the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme by at least one or two years beyond its scheduled end in June 2026.

Mr. Owusu stressed that the programme has yielded significant economic gains that must be preserved and consolidated.

Ghana signed onto a $3 billion IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF) in May 2023 to restore macroeconomic stability amid a severe financial crisis. According to Mr. Owusu, the programme has not only introduced fiscal discipline but has also boosted investor confidence, both locally and internationally.

“The programme has brought fiscal discipline, which we haven’t done well without the IMF,” he said, indicating that the reforms and oversight from the IMF have helped keep government spending in check and encouraged sound economic governance.

Owusu argued that the recent gains in investor confidence and macroeconomic stability must not be jeopardised by an abrupt end to the IMF deal. Instead, extending the programme would give the government additional time to implement critical structural reforms needed to transform the economy sustainably.

Despite economic challenges in the past years, Ghana showed signs of resilience in 2024, recording a commendable growth rate of 5.7%. Mr. Owusu highlighted that this growth was driven mainly by the mining and quarrying sector. He commended the efforts that led to this turnaround but warned that sustaining this performance would require deeper structural changes.

“We need to restructure our economy if we’re serious about creating real and decent jobs and increasing government revenue,” he said. He expressed support for President Akufo-Addo’s call for a national economic reset, saying Ghana must move away from an economy overly reliant on services.

Urging Action on Agriculture and Industrialisation

One of the key messages delivered by Mr. Owusu was the urgent need to implement the government’s agriculture and industrialisation programmes, especially those captured in the 2025 Budget. He singled out initiatives such as ‘Feed Ghana’ and ‘Feed the Industry’ as essential to not only ensuring food security but also providing the raw materials needed to drive manufacturing.

“These policies must be implemented with clear-cut strategies and targeted timelines,” he stated. According to him, if properly executed, these programmes can significantly reduce food inflation, create jobs in the agricultural value chain, and lessen Ghana’s dependence on imported raw materials.

He added that focusing on agriculture and agro-processing would also help address the employment needs of over 150,000 university graduates entering the job market annually, citing World Bank estimates.

Protecting the Cedi Through Export Diversification

On the issue of foreign exchange stability, Mr. Owusu expressed concern about Ghana’s external debt servicing obligations, which are set to resume in 2026. He warned that this could strain the country’s foreign reserves and put pressure on the cedi.

He commended the government for its current performance in managing the currency but cautioned that efforts must be made to increase reserves and diversify exports. “We cannot continue to rely on cocoa as our main cash crop,” he stated.

Owusu called for a deliberate push towards the development of non-traditional exports such as oil palm, shea nut, rubber, and cashew. These, he said, have the potential to become major foreign exchange earners, thereby supporting the stability of the local currency and funding national development.

Touching on inflation, Mr. Owusu noted that the stability of the cedi and improvement in supply-side factors will be essential to meeting the government’s year-end inflation target of 11.9%. He emphasized that easing food inflation, which has been a major contributor to rising prices, will require robust implementation of agricultural policies. “If we can sustain the stability of the cedi and improve food supply through agriculture, we should see a gradual decline in inflation,” he noted.

For Ghana, the next few years represent a critical window of opportunity—not just to stabilise, but to truly transform.