Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson on Wednesday praised the outcome of the National Economic Dialogue, held from March 3 to 4 in Accra.
“It is on record that the dialogue was one of the best. The content was quite interesting, and the outcomes were so clear for all of us to witness,” Dr Forson stated during the presentation of the National Economic Dialogue Planning Committee’s report to President John Dramani Mahama. The report was presented by the Committee’s Chairman, Dr Ishmael Yamson, at the Presidency in Accra.
President Mahama, on February 3, 2025, constituted a seven-member National Economic Dialogue (NED) Planning Committee as part of his 120-day Social Contract with the people of Ghana.
The government envisions the National Economic Dialogue as a platform to communicate the true state of Ghana’s economy to stakeholders and citizens, develop a homegrown fiscal consolidation programme to guide the national budget, and highlight key structural reforms and policy priorities essential for resetting the economy.
The Committee successfully organised the Economic Dialogue on March 3 and 4, and presented its final report to the President on June 4, 2025.
Dr Forson noted that much progress had been made since the event.
“We are all aware that a lot has changed since then. I recall at the time of the conference, inflation was trending at 22 per cent. Today, inflation is 18.4. That signifies that a lot has happened,” he said.
“At the time, the currency was about GHC 15.5 to the US dollar. Today, we are talking about 10.29. So clearly, a lot has happened since the dialogue. And we believe that it’s still early days and things will continue to get better.”
Dr Ishmael Yamson, Chairman of the Planning Committee, expressed confidence that the President would find their recommendations valuable.
He also recommended that the National Economic Dialogue be institutionalised into a permanent consultative mechanism.