‘It’s not just the gold story’ – Theo Acheampong on Ghana’s economic recovery

Economist and political risk specialist Dr Theo Acheampong says Ghana’s economic recovery is being driven by difficult reforms that go beyond gains from gold.

The Technical Advisor at the Finance Ministry said stronger tax collection, spending controls and regular payments to statutory funds were helping rebuild the country’s economic foundations.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, he said investors were asking how Ghana had achieved its turnaround so quickly after the 2022–2024 crisis.

“It’s not just the gold story. It’s really the hard reforms that have been done to try and sustain those gains.”

Dr Acheampong said a country emerging from a crisis of that scale would typically need at least five years to reset its economic fundamentals. Ghana, he argued, had managed that in about a year and a half.

He pointed to tax reforms as one source of the improvement. According to him, the tax-to-GDP ratio had risen from about 11.5 per cent to nearly 13 per cent, based on the figures he last checked.

He also cited tighter controls over spending commitments and efforts to direct expenditure towards the right areas.

The government’s clearance of inherited arrears was another part of the recovery effort, he said.

For Dr Acheampong, regular transfers to statutory funds provided a concrete example of the changes underway. He cited the District Assemblies Common Fund and the National Health Insurance Fund.

“For the first time, we remain current on these funds.”

He said all required transfers from January to August or September of the year had been made. Previously, he said, January releases could arrive as late as September.

Dr Acheampong argued that these changes provided investors with evidence to assess the recovery beyond the government’s account of its progress.

“So, it’s really a lot of these positive stories that we are trying to tell, but not just tell the investors; they also see it reflected in the fundamentals.”

He said investors were also seeing an improvement in Ghana’s capacity to service its debt.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.