Economist Isaac Boadi has rejected government claims that Ghana’s economy moved from intensive care to a wellness centre, arguing conditions at the power transition never justified such a description.
Speaking on The Forum on Asaase Radio on Saturday, 30 May, the Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP) responded to Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who told Parliament on 28 May that Ghana had advanced from the intensive care unit to the wellness centre after fiscal reforms.
“I didn’t see the economy in an ICU,” Boadi said.
He challenged the minister’s reading of the economy’s starting point. Inflation peaked near 54 percent under the previous administration, Boadi noted, but had already fallen to roughly 23 percent before the change of government. He attributed much of that earlier strain to global disruptions that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, pressures he said many countries faced at the same time.
Boadi also pointed to debt measures completed ahead of the handover. The country had passed through the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and restructured its repayments, he explained, leaving those obligations manageable until 2027. He added that foreign exchange reserves had also strengthened during that window.
Those arrangements, according to the economist, created a relatively stable platform that should have supported recovery rather than signalling a collapse.
He acknowledged that several indicators have improved under the current administration but insisted the gains have yet to reach ordinary households. Many Ghanaians, he argued, still feel too economically weak to sense any real recovery.
Forson has maintained that disciplined policy decisions stabilised the economy and reduced the need for future bailouts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government says its next phase of engagement with the Fund will centre on policy coordination and reform monitoring rather than direct financial support, as Ghana nears the end of its current IMF programme.
