Ghana is on track to exit the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) US$3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme ahead of schedule, following strong economic recovery and improved fiscal performance, according to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama.
Dr. Asiama made the announcement during the Governor Talks Series on the sidelines of the 2025 IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Washington D.C., United States. He spoke on the theme, “From Crisis to Confidence: Ghana’s Journey to Macroeconomic Stabilisation,” where he revealed that the country had made remarkable progress in restoring stability to its economy after years of financial distress.
According to him, Ghana has started performing beyond the expectations of the IMF programme, achieving positive results in key macroeconomic indicators such as inflation, foreign reserves, and credit ratings. “We are happy to announce that we will be able to exit the Fund programme come next year,” Dr. Asiama said, adding that the country’s strong policy direction had led to significant economic improvement.
He recalled that earlier in the year, there had been doubts about whether Ghana could stay the course of the IMF programme due to the severe challenges it faced after the 2022 domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP). The economy, he said, had been under heavy pressure from expansionary fiscal policies, rising inflation, multiple credit downgrades, and a sharp depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi.
Dr. Asiama explained that the combination of external shocks and internal mismanagement had forced the government to seek IMF support in 2023, but the implementation of the programme and other structural reforms had now started yielding strong results.
The governor said that inflation, which was nearly 24 percent when he assumed office, had dropped to 9.4 percent, while the country’s foreign reserves had grown to cover about 4.5 months of imports. He also noted that international rating agencies had begun to upgrade Ghana’s credit outlook, a sign of renewed investor confidence in the economy.
“Ghana is back; we are running ahead of programme targets for the year on almost everything – inflation, reserves build-up, and economic growth,” Dr. Asiama said. “We will not compromise on discipline even as we continue to ease downward.”
Despite the gains, the central bank governor warned that Ghana still faces risks from global market volatility and commodity price fluctuations, which could affect its economic stability. He said the government would continue to maintain sound macroeconomic policies and strengthen foreign reserves to cushion against possible external shocks.
“We want to build more reserves because, as you know, we are still a commodity-exporting country. The risks remain,” Dr. Asiama said. He also highlighted the need for coordinated action between the Bank of Ghana and fiscal authorities to sustain the current momentum.
According to him, the central bank has been working closely with the Ministry of Finance to maintain fiscal discipline, manage food prices, and support the ongoing disinflation strategy. “We needed the complementary efforts from the fiscal authorities, so we had to engage them at the same time,” he explained.
The three-year ECF arrangement was approved by the IMF Executive Board in May 2023 for a total of SDR 2.242 billion (approximately US$3 billion). The programme was designed to help Ghana restore macroeconomic stability, ensure debt sustainability, and promote inclusive growth.
Dr. Asiama thanked the IMF for its continued support throughout the stabilisation process, noting that the partnership had been crucial to Ghana’s recovery efforts. “We are grateful to the IMF for its support. Their collaboration has been vital in helping us rebuild economic confidence,” he said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has urged Ghana to take bold steps to avoid falling into another cycle of IMF dependence. In its latest Policy Notes on Ghana released in September, the Bank stressed that the country must tackle governance failures and fiscal indiscipline to ensure long-term stability. “Ghana must break from past governance failures marked by fiscal indiscipline, inefficiency, and repeated IMF programmes,” the World Bank stated.
The Bank of Ghana governor agreed that sustainable reforms must continue beyond the IMF programme to secure economic independence and resilience.
With Ghana’s economic indicators improving steadily, investors and international observers are optimistic that the country could exit the IMF programme by May 2026, marking a new chapter of self-sustained growth in West Africa’s second-largest economy.
