Ghana’s economy has crossed $100 billion for the first time, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told a diaspora town hall in London as government courts investment from Ghanaians abroad.
“For the first time, Ghana’s economy has crossed the $100 billion threshold,” Forson said, describing the country as now Africa’s eighth largest economy. Speaking at an event attended by President John Mahama, he said reforms introduced since the administration took office had restored growth, eased debt pressures and sharply cut inflation after the turmoil that pushed Ghana into debt restructuring and out of international capital markets.
He recalled the 2022 crisis as one of the most traumatic episodes in the country’s economic history, with the cedi nearly losing its value, inflation climbing to painful levels and investor confidence collapsing. Major rating agencies repeatedly downgraded Ghana that year, he noted, while Eurobond spreads widened beyond 3,400 basis points, effectively shutting the country out of global markets.
The recovery since then, Forson said, has been strong. He put 2025 growth at 6 percent, with non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) expanding 7.6 percent, the fastest pace in 14 years, and GDP per capita rising to $3,385. The debt position has also improved sharply, with the debt to GDP ratio falling to 44.7 percent, meeting a target originally set for 2034 under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Ghana, he said, has moved from unsustainable debt through high risk of debt distress to a moderate risk rating.
Inflation has slowed from 23.8 percent in December 2024 to 3.4 percent in April 2026, he added, while Treasury bill rates and bond yields have dropped, lowering borrowing costs for government and businesses alike. The external position has strengthened too, with a current account surplus worth 8.3 percent of GDP in 2025 and authorities targeting a double digit surplus this year.
The London gathering doubled as a pitch to the diaspora, which the government increasingly treats as a strategic source of investment and foreign exchange. Forson noted that remittances topped $7 billion last year, among Ghana’s most important sources of external financing, and said the Bank of Ghana and his ministry are working to capture diaspora transfers more fully within the balance of payments. He told participants the government views them as partners in nation building and urged them to come home and invest, declaring Ghana open for business.
The message is part of a broader effort to lock in reform gains, rebuild investor confidence and restore access to international markets. For businesses, the steep fall in inflation and interest rates points to a steadier operating environment after years of volatility, though sustaining the rebound will depend on continued fiscal discipline and on converting stability into jobs, investment and stronger private sector growth.
