President-elect John Dramani Mahama has expressed concerns about the health of Ghana’s economy stating that despite President Akufo-Addo’s optimistic outlook on third-quarter growth, the economy remains "very sick."

Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, Mahama stressed the critical need for reforms in the energy sector, which he believes could derail the progress made under the debt exchange programme and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement if left unaddressed.

Mr Mahama highlighted inefficiencies within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and pointed to unsustainable commercial and technical losses of over 32%.

Read also: ECG needs a fundamental rethink – Kwabena Donkor

He asserted that no utility company can survive with such deficits and called for comprehensive reforms across the electricity value chain to improve efficiency and ensure sustainable power delivery.

"The energy sector can derail everything that we've done with regard to the debt exchange and with regard to the IMF programme because the debts continue to pile up there.

“The ECG governance is in a very bad way, and so they are making commercial and technical losses of more than 32%. There's no utility company that can survive with 32% commercial and technical losses and still continue to be a viable utility and so as quickly as possible, we need to do reforms, in the whole electricity value chain," he said.

The President-elect also outlined broader economic priorities, including stabilizing the economy, reducing waste, and rationalizing taxes.

He stressed the importance of making Ghana a competitive destination for foreign investment by creating a more transparent and business-friendly tax regime to foster job creation for the youth.

“If we are to remain competitive, we must rationalize the taxes, make them more transparent, so that foreign investors feel attracted to come to our country, to come and set up businesses and industries so that we can get employment for our young people.”