Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings upgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from B minus to B on Friday, May 8, 2026, assigning the country a positive outlook as its post-crisis economic recovery accelerates.
“The upgrade reflects a sharp fall in public debt-to-GDP, supported by robust real GDP growth, substantial fiscal consolidation efforts and currency appreciation, and a marked increase in international reserves that lowers external liquidity risks,” Fitch said in its assessment.
Ghana’s unencumbered reserves grew by 5.4 billion dollars in 2025, reaching 12.3 billion dollars, which is equivalent to 3.6 months of external payments. The agency also projected that the country’s current account surplus will remain strong in 2026, after recording a historic surplus of 8.2 percent of GDP in 2025, driven largely by high global gold prices and strong export performance.
Inflation, one of the most visible signs of Ghana’s economic distress in recent years, declined sharply from 23.8 percent at the end of December 2024 to 3.2 percent in March 2026, the lowest level recorded since 1999. Inflation edged slightly higher to 3.4 percent in April 2026, but Fitch said the broader downward trend remains intact.
The cedi appreciated by an impressive 40.7 percent against the United States dollar over the review period, reversing years of severe depreciation that had fuelled inflationary pressures and weakened household purchasing power.
Fitch expects public debt to continue declining to 46 percent of GDP by 2027, which is below the projected median of 51 percent for countries at the same rating level.
Ghana returned to the domestic bond market in April 2026 after relying mainly on treasury bills since the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in 2023, issuing a seven-year bond worth 3.8 billion Ghana cedis.
The Fitch action follows similar positive steps by Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings, both of which recently acknowledged Ghana’s strengthening fiscal outlook.
Despite the upgrade, Fitch flagged that the interest-to-revenue ratio remains high, expected to stay around 20 percent through 2027, compared with a B-rating median of 14 percent, and warned that weaker fiscal performance or failure to continue building reserves could lead to a downgrade.
