Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has delivered a firm warning that the government will not abandon fiscal discipline for political convenience, insisting Ghana cannot afford to return to the economic crisis that forced painful debt restructuring.

He insists Ghana cannot afford to return to the economic crisis that forced painful debt restructuring.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express hours after presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament on Thursday, Dr Forson defended the government’s cautious spending, arguing that it is necessary to secure Ghana’s successful exit from the IMF programme.

He stressed that the fiscal targets his administration is pursuing were not self-imposed but inherited from the agreement signed between the previous Akufo-Addo administration and the International Monetary Fund.

“The NPP committed Ghana into an IMF program, signed an agreement with the IMF and borrowed $3 billion from them, and committed us, this government, that we would do 1.5% of GDP.

"This was the commitment the NPP made to the IMF, and took the money, of which by the time they were leaving office, they had spent three-quarters of the $3 billion,” he said.

According to the Finance Minister, governments change, but international obligations remain.

“Now, I have come as Minister of Finance. IMF does not deal with political parties; they deal with government and countries. I have a responsibility to achieve 1.5% of GDP.

"Are you telling me that I should default on the promises that the Government of Ghana has taken a loan from the IMF? Certainly not.”

Dr Forson said meeting the programme conditions has restored confidence in Ghana’s economic recovery.

“I have to make sure that this condition is met, and it is for that reason that the IMF is bold enough to go to their board that Ghana has achieved all the conditionalities for which they loaned us, and so Ghana is actually exiting the IMF program.”

He maintained that the government remains firmly on course to meet the target before the end of the year.

“This is a commitment that the people of Ghana and the government of Ghana must fulfil, and I can tell you that I am on course to fulfil this. I’ve done 0.9, and so by the end of the year, even if you annualise 0.9 halfway times two, it will be 1.8. It means getting to the end of the year, I will have room to be able to spend 0.3% more, and that is what it means.”

Dr Forson rejected suggestions that the government’s fiscal performance is simply the result of withholding expenditure.

When host Evans Mensah remarked that the gains were “all because you are not spending,” the Finance Minister pushed back.

“Oh no, but do you want me to spend and derail the IMF program? Is that what they want me to do?” he asked.

He argued that abandoning fiscal discipline would erase the gains made so far and push Ghana back into financial distress.

“It is President Akufo-Addo and his government that took Ghana to the IMF and agreed to this conditionality, unless they want me and President Mahama, because it’s President Mahama’s budget, to derail the IMF program, so that we spend as if there’s no tomorrow, crash the economy again, and go back to economic crisis with a haircut.”