The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Ghana, Dr Adrian Alter, has described Ghana’s economic recovery as “quite impressive,” saying key macroeconomic indicators have performed better than initially projected under the IMF-supported programme.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Monday, August 24, Dr Alter attributed the stronger-than-expected recovery to significant policy reforms implemented by the government, alongside favourable external conditions, particularly the rise in gold prices.
“Ghana’s recovery has been quite impressive, faster and better than expected. I would say all macroeconomic indicators outperform initial expectations in 2023, and that is quite, quite impressive,” he said.
Inflation and Reserves Improve
Dr Alter said inflation has fallen sharply from more than 50% to below 5%, while Ghana’s international reserves have also improved significantly.
According to him, reserves increased from about one month of import cover to more than four months, reflecting a stronger external position.
“On macroeconomic stability, inflation came down quite significantly from more than 50% to now less than 5%. Reserves were rebuilt quite markedly from one month of import coverage to more than four months of import coverage,” he stated.
Strong Economic Growth
The IMF representative also noted that Ghana’s economic growth has remained resilient, recording 6% real growth in 2025 and 6.4% growth in the first quarter of 2026.
He said the growth was particularly encouraging because it was broad-based across all sectors of the economy.
“Growth has been resilient and actually rebounded. We had 6% real growth in 2025. We had 6.4% in the first quarter of this year, and what is important is that growth is now broad-based across all sectors,” he said.
Dr Alter said debt restructuring and structural reforms under the IMF programme had also contributed significantly to restoring macroeconomic stability.
Gold Prices Boost Recovery
He identified higher-than-expected gold prices as another major factor behind Ghana’s economic outperformance.
Gold exports now account for approximately 60% of Ghana’s total exports, generating stronger foreign exchange inflows and supporting the accumulation of international reserves.
“Gold prices are the ones that were actually much higher than expected. And that basically led to higher exports, particularly gold exports, which are now about 60% of total exports,” Dr Alter explained.
He said the stronger external position also contributed to improved foreign exchange liquidity, the appreciation of the cedi and a faster-than-expected reduction in public debt.
Under the IMF programme, Ghana had targeted three months of import cover by the end of the programme. However, Dr Alter said the country had already reached approximately four months of import cover by the end of 2025.
IMF Programme Concludes
The comments come after the IMF Executive Board approved the final review of Ghana’s US$3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme on July 28, 2026.
The approval paved the way for a final disbursement of approximately US$371 million, bringing total disbursements under the three-year programme to about US$3 billion.
The approval marked the conclusion of the IMF-supported programme, which began in May 2023 following Ghana’s severe economic crisis in 2022.
The government has subsequently decided to transition to the IMF’s Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) as it seeks to consolidate the economic gains achieved under the ECF programme.
