Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has explained the key highlights of the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review, defending the government's fiscal decisions, outlining its inflation management strategy, and highlighting what he described as strong economic performance.

Speaking on the government's decision to maintain the fiscal targets under the IMF-supported programme on JoyNews on Friday July 24, 2026, he said the Mahama administration is obligated to honour commitments made by the previous government.

"The NPP went into an IMF programme, signed an agreement with the IMF and borrowed US$3 billion from them. They committed Ghana to achieving 1.5% of GDP, and by the time they were leaving office, they had spent three-quarters of the money," he said.


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According to him, the IMF enters into agreements with sovereign governments rather than political parties, making it the responsibility of any succeeding administration to fulfil those obligations.

"IMF does not deal with political parties; they deal with governments and countries. I have a responsibility to achieve the 1.5% of GDP target. I cannot default on promises for which the Government of Ghana has taken a loan from the IMF," he stated, adding that Ghana's compliance with the programme's conditions had positioned the country to exit the IMF programme successfully.

However speaking on inflation, Dr Forson argued that addressing rising prices should not rest solely with the Bank of Ghana, noting that fiscal policy also plays a critical role, particularly when inflation is driven by food prices or global fuel shocks.

"If today inflation is coming on the back of food inflation, what can the central bank do? It's government policy that we have to employ to deal with food inflation," he said.

He further disclosed that the Bank of Ghana Act has been amended to make inflation targeting a shared responsibility between the Ministry of Finance and the central bank.

"For the first time, we amended the Bank of Ghana Act to make inflation targeting a joint responsibility between the Ministry of Finance and the central bank so that together we can work to tame inflation," he explained.

Despite recent movements in inflation, the Finance Minister expressed optimism that price growth would remain within the government's target range.

"I'm not too worried because the outlook for inflation doesn't look bad. It is my hope that we'll end the year with inflation in the 5% range," he said.

Dr Forson also pointed to Ghana's economic performance, revealing that real GDP growth reached 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing the government's target of 4.8%, as he defended the administration's fiscal and economic policies.

Finance Minister, Hon. Ato Forson breaks it down for the ordinary Ghanaian.

Me: I have now understood why the NPP says Hon. Ato is not spending and even with this explanation, Dr. Bawumia will watch this and learn pic.twitter.com/ldVQpZUSPe

— PATRICK KWAME SAH (@KwameSah85545) July 24, 2026