The Minister for Finance reports strong results in the first half of 2025, despite some external shocks…
The Minister said in his introduction: “We have made significant progress. The signs of recovery are obvious, evident, noticeable, visible, tangible and being felt.” And the data reported by Government appears to support this assertion. He shared the following half-year data (in some cases, provisional estimates) on economic performance to buttress his point. He noted that, at (or by) the end of June 2025:
In the first quarter, Ghana's economy saw a robust growth of 5.3%, with non-oil GDP increasing by 6.8% and the agricultural sector by 6.6% compared to 2024. Consumer price inflation dropped from 23.8% in December 2024 to 13.7% in June 2025. The Ghana cedi appreciated significantly against major currencies, and interest rates on Treasury bills decreased by 13-14%, while commercial lending rates reduced to 27%. The government saved GHS4.9bn on domestic debt interest due to effective debt management. Bank of Ghana's reserves increased to US$11.12bn, covering 4.8 months of imports. What makes these results worth noting is that they have been realised during the geopolitical uncertainty that followed the significant shifts in US foreign policy and trade as well as the conflicts in the Middle East involving Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.
The shifts in trade policy marked by punitive hikes in trade tariffs triggered responses by other regions and countries that threatened to roll back the progress that was being made towards global economic recovery. Similarly, the conflict involving Israel and Iran, particularly, resulted in crude prices climbing steeply and briefly pushing past the benchmark price used by the Government of Ghana for budgeting purposes before dropping below that again.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson attributed the results achieved so far to “prudent fiscal management, sound monetary policy, effective structural reforms, and the results “…are the fruits of hard work, discipline and intentional policies.” For the cedi’s performance, in particular, Dr Forson said the “gains are largely due to strong fiscal consolidation, tight monetary policy, improved external sector balances, renewed investor confidence, positive market sentiments, credit rating upgrades and successfully securing staff level agreement and subsequent Board approval on the 4th Review of the IMF programme”.
The Minister believes that the second half will deliver similarly positive results but favours cautious optimism…
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