World
Reviewing Ghana’s Economic Policies Within the Context of Geopolitical Changes
By Professor Maurice Okoli
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), after several stages of negotiations, has finally approved a 36-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) in an amount equivalent to SDR 2.242 billion (around $3 billion or 304 per cent of quota) for the Republic of Ghana.
While this Credit Facility Arrangement for Ghana is presumably necessary for the country’s economic recovery, it is also necessary to examine the governance system adopted in the country.
In recent years, Ghana has found itself in an economic crisis – brought on by excessive borrowing – and a resulting need for debt restructuring. As the government seeks to navigate this difficult situation by returning to the IMF, it is important to outline economic restructuring, including structural governance.
As we all know that life after COVID-19 will never be the same, several reports monitored indicated that COVID-19, which began in 2019, combined with the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, have had devastating effects across the world. African countries are the hardest hit. Many West African states like Ghana, located on the Atlantic coast and a member of the regional organization, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are equally facing serious similar economic challenges.
But analyzing the implications of Ghana soliciting assistance from the IMF, the country is on the brink of entering a period characterized by market stability and diminished uncertainties following the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) approval of the $3 billion deal.
Many experts have blamed political, economic and energy crises, which spiral negative sentiments and discontent on mismanagement. For example, a renowned American Professor of Economics, Steve Hanke, has chastised Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for mismanaging the Ghanaian economy.
Professor Hanke, who is a hard critic of Ghanaian authorities, in a tweet, was surprised about Ofori-Atta’s position that he’s disappointed foreign lenders have been slow to act in supporting Ghana’s quest to get a programme from the International Monetary Fund.
“As 33 African countries suffer from record debt burden, Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is disappointed that foreign lenders had been ‘slow to act’, but instead of recognising mismanagement, he is blaming creditors for Ghana’s debt burden,” Professor Hanke concluded.
As an experienced Economist who have been teaching courses in economics or related subjects, I would like to suggest that Ghana takes advantage of the current economic challenges to reset interest rate to accelerate private sector growth and quicken the recovery of the economy. In this case, the private sector led the economic recovery process post the domestic debt exchange programme. It has further identified the opportunities in the current economic crisis that can leverage to spur private sector growth.
The next step supports the private sector and their performances as the engine and driver for long-term growth, despite the turbulent economic situation, particularly in the country and in the West African region and generally across the world.
Overall, the most critical step now is improving the quality of governance in Ghana, and that would require the government to address issues such as weak institutions, lack of accountability and ineffective public services. This would involve increasing transparency in government operations, strengthening institutions such as the judiciary, and improving public service delivery.
But one more significant question, as I have already pointed out, is to ensure good governance and build confidence in public institutions. It could be a positive indication and the trust that the economy needs to bounce back and attract foreign investment in the areas for public-private collaboration.
Quite apart from that, it is an additional advantage that Ghana hosts the headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), described as a unique and valuable platform for businesses to access an integrated African market. This could be the strongest dimension to build intra-trade and cooperation with neighbours in West Africa.
With economic growth and sustainability concerns, it is highly suggested that Ghana reviews its imports and attempts to focus more on import substitution policies and the areas it natural comparative advantages. It refers to the implementation of policies and measures that aim to address a country’s food security and self-sufficiency. It helps to cut import expenditures and redirect finances to support domestic food production. It reduces budget deficits and addresses financial imbalances leading to the improvement of economic sustainability.
One way to achieve this is by implementing policies and measures that reduce government spending and waste. This could involve a combination of measures such as rationalizing government programmes, reducing subsidies and cutting non-essential expenditures. The goal is to create a leaner, more efficient government that can better manage its finances.
This could involve strengthening budgetary controls, improving public financial management systems, and enhancing the transparency and accountability of government finances. By doing so, Ghana can ensure that public funds are used efficiently and effectively – and that the country’s fiscal position is sustainable over the long term.
As the IMF reported, the authorities’ economic programme, supported by the ECF arrangement, builds on the government’s Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG), which aims to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability and includes wide-ranging reforms to build resilience and lay the foundation for stronger and more inclusive growth.
Securing timely debt restructuring agreements with external creditors will be essential for successfully implementing the new Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. The Executive Board’s decision will enable an immediate disbursement to Ghana equivalent to SDR 451.4 million (about $600 million). The authorities have taken bold steps to tackle these deep challenges, including by accelerating fiscal adjustment, revenue administration and public financial management, and steps to address weaknesses in the energy and cocoa sectors.
However, it is focused on restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability and implementing wide-ranging reforms to build resilience and lay the foundation for stronger and more inclusive growth. Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, explicitly said in her message that “An ambitious structural reform agenda is being put in place to reinvigorate private sector-led growth by improving the business environment, governance, and productivity.”
Ghana has an economic plan known as the “Ghana Vision 2020”. This plan envisions the first to become a developed African country between 2020 and 2029 and a newly industrialized country between 2030 and 2039. As of 2019, it was the 7th largest producer of gold in the world. It is a leading producer and exporter of cocoa to Europe. The Republic of Ghana, with a population of over 32 million, is located on the coast of West Africa.
Professor Maurice Okoli is a fellow at the Institute for African Studies and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow at the North-Eastern Federal University, Russia
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
