President John Dramani Mahama says his administration has restructured and partly settled the $1.7 billion owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), easing one of the biggest pressures on Ghana’s energy sector.
Speaking on the second day of the Kwahu Business Forum 2026 on Saturday, April 4, 2026, the President recalled the scale of the liability his government inherited.
“When we came into office, we had a debt overhang of about $1.7 billion owed to the independent power producers,” he said.
Mahama explained that negotiations with the IPPs led to concessions, with producers agreeing to absorb part of the losses in line with the national debt restructuring.
“Since Ghanaians were all taking haircuts from the debt restructuring, we told them they also must take haircuts… and they agreed… it amounted to about twenty percent of what was owed,” he said.
Under the deal, the government made immediate lump-sum payments to producers who signed on and set out a timetable for clearing the remainder.
“If they signed on to it, we gave them an immediate down payment, and we gave them the dates for the subsequent payment,” he added.
The President described the most important gain, however, as the government’s ability to stay current on new bills.
“The best announcement is we are keeping up with their present-day bills… any bill they submit every month, we pay them for the electricity they produce,” he stressed.
He said the consistent payments are rebuilding trust with IPPs and helping to secure a reliable power supply.
Mahama noted that these measures are expected to ease financial strain on producers and bring greater stability to Ghana’s electricity supply chain.
