Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has touted the achievements of the Mahama administration in its second term and the benefits of their New Economy agenda for Ghanaians.

The Minister, presenting the 2027 budget in Parliament on Thursday, November 12, expressed optimism about the government activities, believing the economy has seen a considerable stability under the current leadership of President John Dramani Mahama.

"Ghana has made significant gains and has emerged from the most painful economic crisis in our history. Stability has returned. Confidence is back."

To Ato Forson, "Ghanaians can breathe again", however, he noted, "Ghana must decide what to do with that breathing space".  

"That decision will shape the lives of millions of Ghanaians and improve their circumstance," he affirmed.

This notwithstanding, the Finance Minister took Ghanaians down memory lane about their sufferings.

"Ghanaians have endured modest economic progress that arrives in bursts and disappears before families can build secure lives around it. Our people have experienced repeated episodes of: hope followed by hardship; growth followed by instability; fiscal expansion followed by painful correction; a stable currency followed by sharp depreciation; and new opportunities followed by job losses," he lamented but exclaimed that "these boom-and-bust cycles must cease".

"Mr. Speaker, the Ghanaian people paid a heavy price. We owe them something greater than recovery. We owe them a country that honours their sacrifices and ensures that the hardship they have endured does not become their children’s inheritance," the Finance Minister noted.

While acknowledging what the past has done to Ghanaians, the Minister narrated the measures by the incumbent government to ameliorate the plight of the citizenry.

"Mr. Speaker, in 2025, we immediately begun to restore order, credibility and economic stability. By the end of 2025, within one year: inflation had fallen from 23.8 percent to 5.4 percent; the primary balance had significantly improved from a deficit of 4.1 percent to a surplus of 2.5 percent of GDP; public debt had declined to 44.7 percent of GDP; and the Gross International Reserves had risen to 5.7 months of import cover. These gains give households greater certainty, allow businesses to plan and create room for Ghana to think beyond the next emergency and crisis. 

"No statistic can refund the years families lost to instability. Their sacrifices will be honoured when restored stability becomes production, jobs, rising incomes and opportunity. Mr. Speaker, in the past, Ghana has often created fiscal space and then failed to direct it with sufficient purpose. Once the immediate pressure eased: scarce resources were spread thinly across competing demands; projects multiplied without rigorous appraisal; and short-term consumption crowded out investment in productive capacity. We repaired the public finances but did not use the recovery to alter the structure of the economy," he said.

He expressed confidence in the government's "New Economy" agenda, which takes flight in 2027, as a panacea for Ghanaians' economic problems.

"Mr. Speaker, our economic programme, The New Economy: New Ghana, Jobs and Prosperity, provides the answer. The New Economy is the Government of Ghana’s four-year programme to transform the structure of the Ghanaian economy...The New Economy is the Government of Ghana’s four-year programme, beginning in 2027, to confront these weaknesses and transform the structure of our economy. 

"We will expand production, process more of our resources at home and turn our nation’s wealth into decent jobs, higher incomes for lasting prosperity. As Ghana turns 70, we owe the next generation an economy worthy of the freedom we inherited and the sacrifices our people have made. As we begin the next 70 years of our national journey, let us resolve to build a fully developed, first-world Ghana."

Ato Forson intimated that "over a four-year period, from 2027 to 2030, Government will spend US$10 billion to create a modern Ghanaian economy for jobs and prosperity".

"Aban papa aba!", he sang the praises of his government.