Ghana's New Economy Targets Jobs and Higher Incomes

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said Ghana’s economic recovery must deliver decent jobs, higher incomes and a stronger productive economy. After stabilisation, those outcomes are the next task. Speaking at the University of Ghana, he said the New Economy was designed to turn the sacrifices made to restore economic stability into tangible benefits for Ghanaians. Stability alone isn’t the stated goal; production and livelihoods are.

From Stability to Production

Forson said the government had made progress restoring economic confidence. He pointed to falling inflation, returning confidence, managed debt pressures and an economy that was recovering. But those gains, he cautioned, aren’t enough. “Ghana has fought hard to restore stability. Inflation has come down. Confidence is returning. Debt pressures are being managed. The economy is recovering. But recovery is not enough,” he said.

“Stabilisation was never the destination. It was the price of entry,” Forson said. For him, stabilisation is a necessary step toward the government’s next economic objective, not the ultimate purpose of its reforms. He connected the recovery to a promise: its gains must reach the people whose sacrifices helped make it possible.

The next task, he said, is to build on the recovery by expanding production, attracting investment and creating opportunities to improve people’s livelihoods. Forson said the New Economy would link stability with production, exports, investment, decent jobs and higher incomes. Those goals, he said, are the programme’s central purpose.

Production and Private Enterprise

Forson described a Ghana that produces more of what it consumes. The country should also add value to its agricultural and mineral resources and create decent jobs at scale. He presented these aims as parts of one economic vision: greater domestic production, more value added to resources and employment opportunities for Ghanaians.

Public investment should serve private enterprise, Forson said. He argued that this approach would open opportunities for businesses to invest, expand and employ more Ghanaians. The speech gave no figures for planned investment, employment targets or a timetable. Instead, it set out the intended direction of the New Economy, tying public investment and business expansion to job creation.

Who the Recovery Is Meant to Reach

Forson said the transition was intended to ensure recovery benefits reach people whose sacrifices helped restore stability. He described the New Economy as a way to turn those sacrifices into real benefits for the Ghanaian people. Employment and income growth, in his account, belong alongside the recovery measures he cited, including lower inflation and managed debt pressures.

At the University of Ghana, Forson presented the programme as a move from stabilisation toward a productive economy. He named domestic production, exports, investment, decent jobs and higher incomes as the results the government now seeks. Recovery alone isn’t the destination; the government must turn it into improved livelihoods for Ghanaians.