Ato Forson credits ‘shock therapy’ for Ghana’s two-year stabilisation

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has praised an intensive fiscal adjustment program as the key to stabilizing Ghana's economy over two years. In an interview after presenting the 2027 Budget to Parliament, he described the approach as "shock therapy" designed to provide a necessary shock to the economy that might have taken a decade to stabilize.

Dr Forson emphasized that the government deliberately exceeded its primary surplus target to rebuild policy credibility. While Parliament had set a primary surplus target of 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product, the government managed to achieve 2.5%. He described this as a "down payment for policy credibility". The additional adjustment in 2025 provided room to ease the fiscal position in 2027 without compromising stability.

Dr Forson argued that the government could afford to reduce the fiscal buffer by 1% of GDP in 2027 without harming the economy. However, he cautioned that stabilisation alone would not address the growing issue of youth unemployment. With 1.34 million Ghanaians classified as NEET, or neither employed, in education, nor in training, the minister warned that this number could rise to 1.7 million over the next four years without intervention.

He stressed that the government's New Economy agenda aimed to restructure the economy and invest in eight areas to create jobs.