President John Dramani Mahama has formally established a Presidential Advisory Group to steer the next phase of Ghana’s economic recovery — a move that signals his administration has pivoted from first-year stabilisation to a structural second-year reset.
The Group will operate alongside the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana, reporting directly to the Presidency, and will coordinate policy across fiscal, monetary, industrial, and external-sector portfolios.
Mandate
The Advisory Group’s terms of reference centre on five deliverables over the coming 18 months:
- Sustain the IMF Extended Credit Facility on schedule and secure the next review disbursement
- Drive the structural reforms that unlock Ghana’s graduation from the IMF programme in 2027
- Align the 24-Hour Economy programme with employment and productivity targets
- Coordinate implementation of the new Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy (GANRAP) unveiled last week
- Present a mid-term economic performance report to Parliament by Q3 2026
Why Now
Mahama enters the critical second year of his term with Ghana’s macro picture the most stable in five years — single-digit inflation, a cedi that has had its best Q1 since 2021, and IMF reform conditionality being met. But the political and economic risks shift in year two: delivery becomes the test, not design.
“We came to stabilise. We now have to reset. The Advisory Group exists to make sure execution matches intent — everywhere, every sector, every region,” Mahama said at Jubilee House.
Composition
Membership includes senior economists, former central bank governors, private-sector leaders drawn from banking, mining, agribusiness, and telecommunications, and representatives from civil society and the labour movement. The full list will be gazetted within the week. The group meets monthly with the President and weekly at technical level.
Reception
The Association of Ghana Industries and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce welcomed the coordinated structure. Opposition voices said the test will be whether the Group drives accountability or simply duplicates existing ministry functions. Civil society bodies have asked for the mandate letter to be made public.
Backdrop
The announcement comes two days after Mahama declared at a Tamale durbar that “Ghana’s economy is in safe hands” — a message the Advisory Group is designed to operationalise rather than simply reiterate. Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson described the group as “the connective tissue that turns GANRAP and the 24-Hour Economy into a single delivery engine.”
Source: Office of the President / GBC Ghana Online
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