Professor Patrick Asuming is an Economist
An economist, Professor Patrick Asuming, has advised that Ghana should not consider re-entering the international capital market anytime soon, despite receiving a “Stable Outlook” in the latest credit rating by Fitch.
According to him, as long as the country remains under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program, it would be unwise to begin eyeing the international capital market.
His comments follow the recent upgrade by Fitch Ratings, which moved Ghana’s credit rating to “B-” with a Stable Outlook.
Professor Asuming stressed that Ghana must remain on its current growth trajectory to consolidate recent gains and cautioned against rushing back into the markets.
“You cannot enter the capital market as long as we are in the IMF program. We will not enter the capital market even if our credit rating goes up to AA. That is what we have signed up for. We will not enter the market now, and in my view, we should not even be thinking of re-entering the market or issuing new Eurobonds. The Eurobonds and extensive external borrowing have been extremely problematic for the Ghanaian economy,” he was quoted by citinewsroom.com.
The economist emphasised that Ghana is not yet out of the woods and must maintain its current fiscal policies to fully recover from the economic crisis of recent years.
“We still have structural issues in the economy to fix. What we have done so far in 2025 is attempt to restore some order to government finances. But even with that, we’re not completely out of the woods because the 2025 budget, as announced, cannot be repeated in 2026, 2027, or beyond.
“So, the sustainable tax reforms that will consistently generate revenue, enabling us to service our debt and significantly reduce the fiscal deficit on a long-term basis, have not yet been implemented,” Professor Asuming explained.
Ghana was shut out of the international capital markets after defaulting on its bonds due to unsustainable debt levels and economic mismanagement. This led to the country entering a $3 billion IMF recovery program, which is currently in its second year.
SSD/MA
