Mid-Year Budget Review: 'NDC inherited an economy on its knees' — Finance Minister
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration inherited an economy in severe distress when it assumed office in January 2025.
Presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament on Thursday, July 23, the Minister attributed the country's economic challenges to what he described as years of reckless spending, excessive borrowing and poor fiscal management under the previous administration.
He said the economic crisis had left businesses struggling, weakened investor confidence and imposed significant hardships on households across the country.
"In January 2025, President Mahama inherited an economy on its knees. The economic crisis of 2022 was not merely an accident; it was the consequence of a series of wrong policy choices, choices about reckless spending, choices about excessive and feckless borrowing, choices about lack of accountability and a failure to level with the people of Ghana about the true state of the Ghanaian economy," said the Minister.
Dr Ato Forson said the crisis resulted in unprecedented depreciation of the cedi, inflation rising above 50 percent, soaring interest rates and the loss of Ghana's access to the international capital market.
He also cited the domestic debt restructuring programme, saying it imposed painful losses on bondholders, financial institutions and pensioners while many businesses either shut down or relocated.
"Businesses closed or relocated, jobs were lost, and many households that had escaped poverty fell back into hardships. Mr Speaker, this is an honest account of the economy and the one that His Excellency the President inherited," he stated.
The Finance Minister said recounting the state of the economy inherited by the current administration was necessary to provide context for the government's policy decisions and ongoing efforts to restore macroeconomic stability.
He, however, noted that the current economic stability was not achieved by accident but through prudent and superior management.