Speaking at the First Sky Group’s Thanksgiving Service at the Accra International Conference Centre on Sunday, January 25, 2026, the President disclosed that officials from both institutions now hold Ghana up as an example to other African economies facing financial distress.
“Anytime I meet IMF and World Bank officials, they themselves cannot believe what has happened in Ghana,” he said. “When they go to other African countries, they say, ‘Don’t you see Ghana? Look at what Ghana has done.’”
President Mahama explained that when his administration took office, the country’s economic situation was extremely fragile, prompting him to project a two-year recovery period before tangible results could be achieved.
However, he said the turnaround occurred far more rapidly than expected.
“I believed it would take about two years to begin seeing a turnaround, but the progress has come much faster than anticipated,” he noted.
He highlighted the sharp reduction in inflation from 23.8 percent to 5.4 percent within one year as evidence of the recovery.
The President also cited the performance of the Ghanaian cedi, which he said appreciated by about 37 percent during the same period — a rare development after years of depreciation.
“For the first time, our long-suffering Ghanaian currency has appreciated significantly,” he said, attributing the achievement to divine grace.
President John Dramani Mahama says Ghana has emerged as a reference point for successful economic reform programmes within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Speaking at the First Sky Group’s Thanksgiving Service at the Accra International Conference Centre on Sunday, January 25, 2026, the President disclosed that officials from both institutions now hold Ghana up as an example to other African economies facing financial distress.
“Anytime I meet IMF and World Bank officials, they themselves cannot believe what has happened in Ghana,” he said. “When they go to other African countries, they say, ‘Don’t you see Ghana? Look at what Ghana has done.’”
President Mahama explained that when his administration took office, the country’s economic situation was extremely fragile, prompting him to project a two-year recovery period before tangible results could be achieved.
However, he said the turnaround occurred far more rapidly than expected.
“I believed it would take about two years to begin seeing a turnaround, but the progress has come much faster than anticipated,” he noted.
He highlighted the sharp reduction in inflation from 23.8 percent to 5.4 percent within one year as evidence of the recovery.
The President also cited the performance of the Ghanaian cedi, which he said appreciated by about 37 percent during the same period — a rare development after years of depreciation.
“For the first time, our long-suffering Ghanaian currency has appreciated significantly,” he said, attributing the achievement to divine grace.
