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Civil Society Demands Debt Relief at France-Africa Summit

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Civil Society Demands Debt Relief at France-Africa Summit

A coalition of civil society organisations and trade unions has called on France to cancel unsustainable African debts and reverse its opposition to a United Nations (UN) sovereign debt restructuring framework, as Africa prepares to spend nearly $90 billion on external debt payments in 2026 alone.

The joint statement, issued ahead of the Africa Forward Summit hosted by France and Kenya on May 11 and 12, named Ghana, Kenya and Zambia among the African countries now devoting between 30 and 50 percent of government revenues to debt servicing, amounts that exceed the combined health and education budgets of most African nations.

Africa’s public debt nearly doubled between 2010 and 2024, rising by 183 percent, partly driven by the economic fallout from the pandemic and a sustained period of elevated global interest rates. Of 36 low-income countries worldwide currently assessed as being at high risk of debt distress, 21 are on the African continent.

Private creditors now hold 43 percent of Africa’s external debt, with multilateral banks accounting for 34 percent and bilateral creditors 23 percent. China leads bilateral lending at 12 percent of Africa’s external debt, while France holds significant influence not only as a creditor but as the coordinating nation of the Paris Club, the informal grouping of Western creditor countries that collectively manages debt relief negotiations.

The coalition accused France of persistent inconsistency, noting that despite President Emmanuel Macron calling in 2020 for a massive cancellation of African debt to help the continent manage the pandemic’s economic impact, no cancellations materialised. A temporary debt suspension was agreed by the G20, but private creditors declined to participate and continued generating profits from countries in default, with the statement estimating $14 billion earned from nations including Ghana, Chad, Zambia, Sri Lanka and Ukraine.

The groups further highlighted France’s opposition at the Seville Conference on Development Financing in July 2025 to establishing a UN-based intergovernmental debt restructuring process, a position the coalition described as obstructive and subsequently condemned by civil society organisations across both hemispheres.

Nearly 70 percent of climate finance directed at Africa has arrived in the form of loans rather than grants, the statement noted, forcing countries to take on additional debt to address a climate crisis they did not historically cause.

The signatories, which include senior officials from ITUC Africa, Afrodad, Oxfam France and several French trade unions, called on France to support debt cancellations for requesting nations, suspend payments for heavily indebted countries including Ethiopia, shift climate financing toward grants and agree to participate in the intergovernmental process on debt reform outlined in the Sevilla Commitment adopted by all UN member states.

DHL Names Ghana a Top Five African Strategic Market

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DHL Names Ghana a Top Five African Strategic Market

DHL Express has identified Ghana as one of its top five African markets as the global logistics company deepens trade partnerships across the continent, following high-level talks between its global Chief Executive Officer and German diplomatic officials in Accra.

DHL global CEO John Pearson led a senior company delegation in discussions with Frederik Landshöft at the German Embassy in Accra, where both sides reviewed Ghana’s economic outlook, regional logistics opportunities and preparations for the upcoming German African Business Summit.

The company operates across more than 220 countries and territories, including all 54 African nations, giving it one of the broadest logistics footprints on the continent. Ghana’s ranking within the company’s top five African markets signals growing confidence in the country as a trade and distribution anchor for the West African sub-region.

Talks centred on strengthening strategic logistics partnerships, leveraging infrastructure to support trade integration and creating employment opportunities for young people across the region. The German Embassy described logistics networks as central to trade connectivity and economic expansion, highlighting DHL’s contribution to Ghana’s commercial ecosystem.

DHL Express Central and West Africa CEO Kader Coulibaly acknowledged the embassy’s role in reinforcing cooperation between the company and Ghanaian stakeholders, signalling continued momentum in German-Ghanaian commercial engagement.

The meeting also reflected broader German business interest in African markets as companies seek to capitalise on expanding trade flows and economic integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The German Embassy confirmed it would continue supporting bilateral cooperation in trade and logistics as both countries pursue deeper commercial ties.

Ghana Banks Improve Liquidity But Sector Growth Stays Uneven

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Ghana Banks Improve Liquidity But Sector Growth Stays Uneven

Ghana’s banking sector closed 2025 with stronger liquidity and higher capitalisation than the previous year, but a widening divide between rapidly expanding mid-tier banks and more cautious larger institutions has emerged as the defining feature of the industry’s recovery, according to the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) 2025 Financial Performance Dashboard.

Liquidity improved broadly across the sector, driven by stronger deposit mobilisation, better short-term asset management and easing funding pressures. Core liquid assets as a share of short-term liabilities declined from 46.3 percent to 37.9 percent, reflecting a more efficient deployment of funds rather than a deterioration in buffers. GAB noted that many banks moved from tight liquidity positions in 2024 to more comfortable levels in 2025.

Credit growth told a more complicated story. Zenith Bank expanded its loan book by more than 111 percent while other institutions recorded contractions ranging from single digits to losses exceeding 49 percent. GAB attributed the pullbacks to deliberate risk adjustment and portfolio restructuring rather than a structural retreat from lending. “Lending recovery is underway but remains concentrated, indicating cautious and uneven credit expansion,” the association stated.

Asset growth was emphatically a mid-tier story. OmniBSIC Bank led the sector with total asset expansion of 131.4 percent, followed by NIB at 109.5 percent. Several other mid-sized banks recorded growth between 30 and 44 percent. Growth at GCB and Ecobank, which hold the two largest asset bases in the sector, was comparatively subdued. GAB observed that the gap between the largest banks and the rest of the market is narrowing as mid-tier balance sheets double within single fiscal years.

Net interest margins declined across the sector as falling interest rates compressed spreads between lending and deposit rates. GAB described the movement as normalisation rather than an erosion of earnings capacity.

Cost efficiency improved broadly as macroeconomic stabilisation reduced operating pressures. Lower inflation and a more stable cedi allowed income to grow faster than costs across most institutions, strengthening the sector’s ability to sustain profitability in a lower interest rate environment.

GAB cautioned that the sector’s full potential would depend on improved asset quality, tighter cost management and a stable operating environment capable of supporting sustainable credit growth.

Ghana Mining Debate Shifts Toward Indigenous Ownership After UN Forum

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Ghana Mining Debate Shifts Toward Indigenous Ownership After UN Forum

A growing national debate over Ghanaian ownership of strategic mineral assets has intensified following government investment promotion engagements at the United Nations (UN) forum in New York, where officials showcased Ghana’s mining opportunities to international investors while domestic advocates pushed back against continued foreign dominance in the sector.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) sharpened the conversation by opposing a proposed extension of Gold Fields’ Tarkwa mining lease, arguing that capable Ghanaian firms and investors should begin assuming greater control over strategic national resources rather than perpetuating cycles of foreign lease renewal.

Ghana has sustained one of Africa’s most investor-friendly mining regimes for decades, offering legal protections, tax incentives and operational stability that have attracted multinational corporations into its gold sector. Critics argue, however, that local participation remains weak at the ownership, financing and value-capture levels despite the country’s status as Africa’s leading gold producer.

Policy advocates contend that portions of the strategic energy directed toward international roadshows and mining conferences should be redirected toward building indigenous mining capacity through development financing, local equity requirements, equipment access and structured technology transfer arrangements. The argument is not against foreign investment itself but against what critics describe as an overdependence on external capital in a sector central to Ghana’s economic sovereignty.

The debate is also unfolding against a broader continental shift. Several African countries are revisiting mining agreements, tightening local participation requirements and asserting stronger control over mineral assets connected to the global energy transition.

Economists note that deeper local ownership could strengthen domestic capital formation and lengthen local supply chains, delivering economic benefits well beyond royalties and tax receipts. Proponents of a calibrated transition maintain that investor confidence and indigenous empowerment are not mutually exclusive, and that deliberate policy design can advance both simultaneously without undermining regulatory predictability.

The pressure now confronting policymakers is whether Ghana will move beyond investor showcases to build the domestic ownership architecture that converts mineral wealth into lasting national economic power.

IMF Warns Africa Budget Failures Now Threaten Fiscal Credibility

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IMF Warns Africa Budget Failures Now Threaten Fiscal Credibility

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that persistent gaps between government budget targets and actual fiscal outcomes are becoming a structural threat to economic stability, investor confidence and public trust across sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new departmental paper.

The study, authored by IMF economists Pablo Lopez Murphy, Can Sever, Felix F. Simione and Qianqian Zhang, examined fiscal performance across 39 sub-Saharan African countries between 2021 and 2024. It found that budget deviations are no longer isolated failures but deeply entrenched patterns rooted in weak institutions, political pressures and systematically optimistic revenue forecasts.

Fiscal deficits across the region consistently exceed initial projections. Governments routinely underestimate spending on wages, transfers and public operations while overstating expected revenues. The problem sharpens during periods of strong economic performance: rather than building fiscal buffers, many governments expand spending aggressively when revenues surprise to the upside, locking in procyclical behaviour that amplifies vulnerability when conditions weaken. Interest payment obligations are also routinely underestimated, widening financing gaps further.

Capital expenditure absorbs the heaviest adjustment whenever fiscal stress emerges. Roads, hospitals, schools and utility projects are delayed or abandoned once revenue targets slip, deepening infrastructure deficits in a region that already carries some of the world’s largest development backlogs.

Election cycles are identified as a key trigger for fiscal slippage, with governments expanding spending beyond approved budgets under political pressure, generating wider deficits and unexpected borrowing after votes are cast. Countries with fiscal rules, independent fiscal councils and tighter expenditure controls recorded significantly smaller deviations. IMF-supported programmes were also associated with improved budget discipline, a finding directly relevant to Ghana and other African nations currently operating under Fund-backed reform agreements.

The paper warns that declining foreign aid flows, elevated global borrowing costs, volatile commodity markets and rising demands for social and infrastructure spending are narrowing the margin for fiscal slippage further.

The researchers recommend binding expenditure ceilings, stronger legislative oversight, tighter controls on election-year spending reallocations and explicit protection for capital budgets during periods of fiscal stress. Their central conclusion is direct: governments should not aim for perfect budget execution in an uncertain world, but they must prevent fiscal slippages from becoming normalised, because once that trust is lost, rebuilding it is far harder and far more expensive.

Branded Turmeric Products Fail Ghana Lead Safety Tests

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Branded Turmeric Products Fail Ghana Lead Safety Tests

Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has found that 83.33 percent of branded turmeric products failed lead safety standards, far exceeding the 37.14 percent failure rate recorded for unbranded products, in a 2025 nationwide study.

The study tested 392 turmeric samples from open markets, retail shops, supermarkets and malls across multiple regions. Overall, 165 samples containing unsafe lead levels failed safety thresholds, representing a 42.09 percent total failure rate. Imported turmeric recorded a 55.56 percent failure rate against 41.78 percent for locally sourced products.

Greater-Accra reported the highest regional contamination, with 71 out of 84 samples failing at a rate of 84.53 percent. Central Region followed at 75 percent, Upper West at 63.64 percent and Bono at 60.53 percent. Eastern and Savannah Regions recorded zero failures among their tested samples.

Supermarkets and malls posted the sharpest finding in the report, with a 91.67 percent failure rate, the highest across all retail categories. Retail shops recorded 47.79 percent while open markets came in at 37.45 percent, upending the widespread belief that formally packaged and shelved products are inherently safer.

Lead is a toxic heavy metal whose exposure damages the brain, kidneys and nervous system, with children at particular risk of developmental harm.

The FDA has since revised its turmeric registration policy, announcing that “registration requirements for turmeric now include mandatory testing for lead.” The authority has ordered the recall of all implicated registered products, intensified nationwide sensitisation programmes and moved to tighten border controls and market surveillance for high-risk food imports.

January Growth Revised Down As Agriculture Loses Momentum

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January Growth Revised Down As Agriculture Loses Momentum

Ghana’s January 2026 economic growth has been revised sharply downward from a provisional 7.5 percent to 6.1 percent, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) disclosed this week inside its February 2026 Monthly Indicator of Economic Growth (MIEG) release, a 1.4 percentage point correction that changes the picture of how the first quarter began.

The revision followed the receipt of updated data from four institutions: the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Fisheries Commission, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, and the Volta River Authority. The updated inputs affected growth estimates across manufacturing, trade, fishing, electricity, public administration, health, and education.

The sharpest single correction fell on services. January’s services growth was revised from 9.6 percent down to 5.3 percent, a four percentage point cut to the sector that ordinarily anchors Ghana’s economic performance. Industry moved in the opposite direction, with January’s estimate revised upward from 7 percent to 8.9 percent. Agriculture was trimmed marginally from 4.5 percent to 4 percent.

The February MIEG data released alongside the revision showed an economy still expanding, with overall growth of 7.7 percent for the month, nearly double the 3.9 percent recorded in February 2025. Industry led all sectors at 9.6 percent, driven by mining and quarrying and electricity. Services grew 7.4 percent, supported by information and communication, finance and insurance, and health activity.

Agriculture however told a different story. The sector recorded 3.8 percent growth in February 2026, compared to 9.4 percent in the same month last year, a slowdown of more than five percentage points. Crops, livestock, forestry, and logging drove what activity there was, but the sector’s contribution to overall February growth stood at just 5.5 percent, against industry’s 44.2 percent and services’ 47.6 percent.

The pattern raises a structural question that sits beneath the headline growth figures. Industry and services are accelerating, driven by mining activity and digital and financial services respectively. Agriculture, which supports the largest share of Ghana’s employed population, is moving in the opposite direction on a year-on-year basis. The February MIEG index of 111.3 continues a four-year upward trend from 95.1 in February 2023, but the composition of that growth is shifting in ways that do not reach all Ghanaians equally.

GSS noted that the MIEG remains an experimental statistic, currently non-seasonally adjusted due to limited historical data. All figures are provisional and subject to further revision as more comprehensive data become available. The next release will cover March 2026.

Most Ghanaians Still Unprepared For Retirement Despite Recovery

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Most Ghanaians Still Unprepared For Retirement Despite Recovery

Three in four working Ghanaians lack confidence in their retirement savings, according to the 2025 Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor released this month, even as broader economic conditions show their strongest improvement in three years.

The annual survey covered 656 employed Ghanaians aged 20 to 59 earning at least GH¢1,200 per month, weighted to reflect a 70:30 informal-to-formal sector split. The proportion lacking retirement savings confidence has now risen for three consecutive years, from 56 percent in 2023 to 61 percent in 2024 and 74 percent in 2025. Only one in three respondents had actively started saving for retirement.

The findings expose a deepening contradiction. Financial stress among working Ghanaians fell sharply from 60 percent in 2024 to 30 percent in 2025, the lowest level since the survey began. Confidence in the broader economy climbed from 17 percent in 2023 to 48 percent in 2025. Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported earning more than a year earlier. Yet retirement ranked seventh among savings priorities, behind emergency funds, children’s education, and business development.

Roy Punungwe, Group Chief Executive of Old Mutual Ghana, acknowledged the tension directly, saying “most Ghanaians remain financially vulnerable” despite the improving headline numbers.

Trust remains a structural obstacle. Fifty-three percent of those not actively saving for retirement said they feared losing their money if their pension provider collapsed. The finding points directly to the lingering fallout from the 2017 to 2020 financial sector crisis and the subsequent Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), both of which eroded household confidence in formal savings institutions. Meanwhile, 47 percent of respondents said they did not know where to turn for financial guidance, and only 13 percent used a financial adviser.

The fragility runs deeper than the retirement figure alone. More than half of respondents said they would exhaust their funds within three months if their income stopped. Willingness to take substantial financial risk fell from 24 percent in 2023 to 10 percent in 2025, a compression the report attributes to economic scarring from the recent crisis period.

Savings behaviour has shown improvement in certain areas. The proportion of respondents dipping into savings to cover daily expenses fell from 61 percent in 2023 to 12 percent in 2025. Bank accounts and mobile money remained the dominant savings tools, used by 57 percent and 50 percent of respondents respectively. Susu participation rose from 37 percent to 44 percent. Formal long-term instruments remain largely untouched.

The income level of respondents made little difference to the retirement confidence gap. Among those earning above GH¢3,001 per month, the highest income band surveyed, 66 percent still lacked confidence in their retirement provision. The mean confidence score across all income groups was 4.9 on a ten-point scale.

Old Mutual said it would use the findings to deepen engagement on long-term financial planning and to rebuild trust in formal retirement products among working Ghanaians.

Ghana School Debuts Gymnastics Show In Education First

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Ghana School Debuts Gymnastics Show In Education First

Healthy Mind International School in East Legon, Accra, staged Ghana’s first on-campus school gymnastics show on May 9, 2026, marking the public debut of a dedicated training arena built as part of the school’s core educational model.

Students took to mats, balance beams, and apparatus before an audience of parents and guests who watched performances that school officials said reflected months of deliberate physical training. The show was not ceremonial. It was the opening statement of a gymnastics programme the school has embedded into its International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum as a tool for cognitive and character development, not simply sport.

Sanamdeep Hari, Director of Healthy Mind International School, said the display gave form to what the school has been building. “The body and the mind are not separate. Today, our students showed that,” he said.

The arena is the first of its kind on any Ghanaian school campus. It sits within a wider programme that includes football, swimming, tennis, basketball, chess, music, and dance. But gymnastics occupies a distinct position because it demands individual precision. A child either holds balance or does not.

Research in child development links structured physical training to stronger executive function, including working memory, attention control, and emotional regulation. These are the same capacities that shape classroom performance and the ability to manage pressure across every stage of life.

Private schools in Accra are competing with increasing sophistication. Parents are no longer asking only where their children will earn strong grades. They are asking where their children will develop focus, resilience, and the ability to begin again after failure. The Healthy Mind International School arena gives a physical and visible answer to that question.

Ghana’s sporting culture has long been shaped by football. The emergence of gymnastics as a school discipline, backed by an arena and a public performance, suggests that culture is beginning to widen.

Ecobank Ghana Champions Digital Innovation at MTN Conference

Roger A. Agana
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Ecobank Ghana Champions Digital Innovation at MTN Conference

Ecobank Ghana has reaffirmed its commitment to digital transformation and customer-focused banking, with a senior executive using a high-profile industry platform to argue that innovation is no longer optional for organisations seeking to remain competitive.

Tara Squire, Executive Director of Consumer Banking at Ecobank Ghana, made the remarks during a panel discussion at the MTN Digital Transformation Conference ’26, held recently in Ghana. The panel, themed “Embracing Digital Transformation for Marketing Excellence,” brought together industry leaders to examine how technology continues to reshape customer experience and redefine marketing strategy across sectors.

Mr Squire told attendees that businesses must remain agile and continuously innovative to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving digital economy. He noted that digital transformation had become a core operational imperative rather than a supplementary consideration, particularly for institutions seeking to improve efficiency, deepen customer engagement and strengthen their competitive positioning.

The panel underscored the growing centrality of data and technology in delivering faster, smarter and more personalised solutions for both individual consumers and businesses. Fellow panelists echoed the importance of building customer-centric digital experiences and the need for organisations to adapt consistently to shifting digital demands.

Mr Squire said Ecobank Ghana remained focused on providing seamless digital banking solutions designed to empower individuals, businesses and communities across Ghana and beyond. He also expressed appreciation to MTN Ghana and all participants for what he described as impactful conversations and a shared vision for the future of digital transformation in the region.

The conference reflects growing momentum across Ghana’s financial and telecommunications sectors around embedding digital infrastructure as a driver of economic growth and service delivery.

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