President John Mahama says his government will not celebrate prematurely following the completion of Ghana’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, insisting that the country’s economic recovery remains a work in progress.

Speaking during a community engagement in the Savannah Region on Saturday, May 23, President Mahama said that although the government had succeeded in restoring the IMF programme after inheriting it in a difficult state, more work still needs to be done to stabilise and strengthen the economy.

According to him, the IMF programme was at risk of derailing when his administration assumed office because key performance indicators agreed under the programme had gone off track.

“We have also come to the end of the IMF programme. We inherited the IMF programme from the previous government.

"At the time we took over from the previous government, all the agreed performance indicators were off track,” he said.

President Mahama explained that the government had to implement stringent measures during its first quarter in office to realign the programme and restore confidence.

“It meant that the programme was in danger of derailment. And so in the first quarter after we took over, we had to take some stringent actions to bring the programme back into alignment and bring it back on track,” he stated.

Despite the progress made, the President stressed that his administration would not organise celebrations over the programme’s completion because the country’s economic challenges are not fully resolved.

“But we are not going to have a kenkey party because we believe that it is still a work in progress,” he said.

In what appeared to be a subtle jab at the previous administration, President Mahama referenced celebrations that followed Ghana’s earlier exit from an IMF programme.

“Unlike others who left the IMF and held waakye and kenkey parties, happy to be free from the IMF, we are not doing that because we know that our economy still needs a lot of work to be done,” he added.

The President reiterated the government’s commitment to maintaining fiscal discipline and implementing policies aimed at achieving long-term economic stability and sustainable growth.