EDITORIAL: Here’s to a productive new year!

The sun has set on the first full year of President John Dramani Mahama’s second coming – and even the most hardened sceptics among us in the business community are finding it difficult to suppress a sense of awe.

One year ago, the Ghanaian economy sat in a precarious position; bruised by debt and breathless from inflation.

Today, as we pore over the end-2025 fiscal data, the numbers do more than just talk; they sing the song of a ‘Great Reset’ that few dared to dream of.

Following release of the December 2025 inflation data, which stood at 5.4 percent, one analyst recently remarked on X (formerly Twitter): “When you get home today, take a minute and be grateful to be alive. You might have just witnessed the most extraordinarily successful economic year since the nation of Ghana was founded”.

While such a statement may sound like hyperbole to workers still feeling the pinch of high transport fares, the cold, hard data of 2025 lends it significant weight.

Let’s look at the scoreboard, shall we? Headline inflation, which stood at a high 23.8 percent in December 2024, has collapsed to the aforementioned 5.4 percent as of year-end 2025.

For the first time in over three decades, the cedi did not just ‘stabilise’; it fought back, recording a 30 percent appreciation against the US dollar to close the year at approximately GH¢10.47.

This was not luck. It was the result of a deliberate, almost surgical, focus on ‘Gold for Reserves’. The Ghana Gold Board’s (GoldBod) institutionalisation has been the undisputed MVP of the year, admittedly with much help from global prices.

By exceeding its 100-tonne export target and raking in over US$10billion of artisanal gold revenue, GoldBod provided the Bank of Ghana with the “bulletproof” reserves, now at US$13.8billion, needed to defend our currency and crush speculative attacks.

But for the business owner in Suame Magazine or commuter in Kasoa, the celebrations are in some senses muted.

?The reason? Two of the administration’s most ambitious vehicles – the 24-Hour Economy and The Big Push – are yet to take off in full swing.

?The ‘24-hour economy’ was the crown jewel of the 2024 campaign. By year-end 2025, however, the policy’s impact was still up for conversation.

While government has correctly identified the ‘three-shift’ potential in agro-processing and pharmaceuticals, the rollout has been hampered by two things: energy costs and security.

?The recent 9.8 percent hike in electricity tariffs for 2026 has sent a chill through the manufacturing sector. It is difficult to run a third shift at 2:00 AM when the cost of power outstrips the potential profit.

While the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) recently set up a steering committee to move the downstream sector toward 24/7 operations, the private sector is still waiting for the promised ‘Time of Use’ (TOU) tariffs to make midnight manufacturing viable. We have the policy document; now we need the power-grid reality.

?Similarly, The Big Push that projected a US$10billion infrastructure blitz has had a quiet first year.

The Ministry of Finance admitted that much of the GH¢13.9billion earmarked for 2025 remained “untouched” due to the lengthy process of packaging projects and following the Public Procurement Act.

?The president’s announcement of a GH¢30.8billion allocation for 2026 is welcome, but it also highlights the ‘bottleneck’ problem. We have seen groundbreaking ceremonies, such as the Wa-Tumu-Han road, but the ‘construction site’ Ghana was promised is currently more of a ‘blueprint’ Ghana.

For the ‘Big Push’ to be successful, government must move from the podium to the pavement. Our roads carry 90 percent of our traffic; every month of delay in dualising our major corridors is a month of lost productivity.

In all of these, major projects – such as dualisation of the Takoradi-Cape Coast highway and Atimpoku-to-Aflao corridor – give a sense of hope.

However, any commentary of this nature would be dishonest if it ignored the scars that remain. While the economy thrives, our environment gasps for air. The galamsey (illegal mining) crisis remains an ‘existential threat’.

Despite the record gold revenues, the mercury levels in water-bodies and destruction of our cocoa lands are the ‘hidden costs’ of success.

The administration’s move to establish Specialised Environmental Courts is a step in the right direction, but the ‘Ecocide’  being witnessed in our forest reserves requires more than just legal frameworks, it requires ruthless, non-partisan enforcement of the law. We cannot build a 24-hour economy only to live in a 0-hour environment.

The success of 2025 has given Ghana something it has not had in a long time: fiscal breathing room. Public debt has fallen from nearly 62 percent  of GDP to roughly 45 percent and our credit ratings have seen a rare triple-upgrade from Fitch, Moody’s and S&P.

As we enter 2026, the challenge shifts from recovery to sustainability.

We must ensure that the ‘No-Academic-Fee’ policy for university freshmen translates into a skilled workforce that can man factories of the 24-hour economy. We must ensure that the ‘Big Push’  does not lead to a new cycle of arrears for local contractors.

The foundation has been ‘Reset’ and long may the good work continue. We must all play our part. Here’s to a productive new year!

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