Dr Cassiel Ato Forson is the Minister of Finance
The Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has unveiled Ghana’s first-ever comprehensive national policy specifically designed to deliberately and sustainably build the country’s external reserves and secure long-term macroeconomic stability.
Presenting the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy (GANRAP) (2026–2028) to Parliament, the minister described the initiative as a historic and strategic shift in how Ghana manages its external buffers, moving away from costly borrowing and short-term reserve-building measures toward a structured, gold-backed and reform-driven accumulation framework.
Strong Economic Foundation
Dr Forson told Parliament that the policy builds on the decisive macroeconomic turnaround achieved in 2025 following the 2022–2023 crisis.
Key indicators at the end of 2025 included:
• Real GDP growth averaging 6.1% in the first three quarters of 2025
• Inflation declining sharply from 23.8% in 2024 to 5.4% and further to 3.8% in January 2026.
• The 91-day Treasury bill rate falling from 27.7% at end-2024 to 6.4% in February 2026
• Public debt declining from 61.8% of GDP to 45.3%
• Gross international reserves rising to US$13.8 billion, equivalent to 5.7 months of import cover, up from 4.0 months in 2024.
Despite these gains, the Minister cautioned that the traditional benchmark of three months of import cover is no longer sufficient in today’s volatile global environment.
Target: 15 Months of Import Cover by 2028
Under GANRAP, the government is targeting an ambitious increase in reserves to the equivalent of 15 months of import cover by end-2028.
The policy sets intermediate milestones of:
• 8.6 months by end-2026
• 11.8 months by end-2027
• 15 months by end-2028
The Minister described the target as the creation of an “economic war chest” to shield Ghana against commodity price shocks, global financing volatility, geopolitical tensions and climate-related disruptions.
Gold as the Strategic Anchor
Central to the policy is a deliberate gold-backed reserve accumulation strategy anchored on the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), which mandates the Ghana Gold Board to generate foreign exchange and support gold reserve accumulation by the Bank of Ghana.
The government has set an operational weekly gold purchase target of approximately 3.02 tonnes.
This will be achieved through:
• Acquisition of at least 2.45 tonnes weekly from the Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (ASM) sector
• Invocation of pre-emption rights to secure a minimum of 0.57 tonnes weekly from the large-scale mining sector.
The gold acquired will be refined, added to Ghana’s physical reserves, and may only be sold with prior approval of Cabinet and Parliament.
Ending Costly Borrowing for Reserves
The Minister noted that between 2017 and 2024, Ghana relied heavily on Eurobonds, swaps, sale-and-buy-back transactions and commercial bank borrowing to build reserves at significant cost.
From 2022 to 2024 alone, the Bank of Ghana accumulated US$5.65 billion in reserves through swaps and related transactions at a cost of US$1.16 billion in interest.
Additionally, Eurobond borrowings between 2018 and 2021 to support reserve build-up cost taxpayers about US$2.5 billion in interest payments alone, with Ghana still servicing these debts.
Dr Forson stressed that borrowing to accumulate reserves is unsustainable and contributed to the 2022 debt distress.
In contrast, he revealed that in 2025 alone, the Ghana Gold Board generated approximately US$10 billion in foreign exchange at a cost of US$214 million, significantly lower than the cost of comparable borrowing.
Broader Structural Reforms
Beyond gold, the policy integrates structural reforms aimed at expanding foreign exchange inflows and reducing persistent outflows.
These include:
• Scaling up non-traditional exports
• Revitalising cocoa productivity
• Implementing the National Policy on Integrated Oil Palm Development
• Accelerating new oil field developments such as Pecan
• Conserving foreign exchange through a Gas-to-Power Transformation Policy
The Minister emphasised that maintaining fiscal discipline and sustaining a primary surplus remain critical to protecting the gains achieved.
Safeguarding Ghana’s Future
Dr. Forson concluded by urging Parliament to support what he described as a historic and forward-looking policy framework designed to strengthen Ghana’s first line of defence against external shocks.
The overarching objective, he said, is to build a resilient reserve management system that safeguards macroeconomic stability, sustains investor confidence, improves living standards and secures lasting prosperity for future generations.
With the unveiling of GANRAP, Ghana becomes one of the few African countries to adopt a structured, legislatively anchored national reserve accumulation strategy driven primarily by domestic resource mobilisation rather than external borrowing.
Source:
www.ghanaweb.com
