by Justice Lee Adoboe
ACCRA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- From January 2027, Ghana will shift economic focus toward strong domestic production capacity to transform Ghana into a modern manufacturing-backed economy, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told parliament during the presentation of the 2027 budget late Thursday.
Forson said the 10-billion-dollar new economy program to run from 2027 to 2030 aims to create a modern economy of jobs and prosperity. "Ghana's next phase of growth must be investment-led, export-capable, and job-intensive," he said.
Forson said the proposed new economy is based on eight pillars: macroeconomic stability and affordable finance; commercial agriculture; energy infrastructure; critical minerals value addition; tourism, culture, and creative arts; textiles and garments; pharmaceuticals and biomanufacturing; and the technology economy.
As part of the new economy, the minister said Ghana would invest 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to build an industrial mineral economy around manganese, bauxite, lithium, and gold to increase local mineral value retention, improve export earnings per tonne, create skilled jobs and boost opportunities for Ghanaian suppliers.
Under this program, Forson said the government targets to ensure that at least 70 percent of artisanal and small-scale gold will be refined locally by December 2027 and 100 percent by December 2028, as the government bans the raw export of artisanal gold.
Forson said Ghana aims to process at least 50 percent of its manganese and bauxite locally by the end of 2028, with full local processing and a ban on raw exports targeted by the end of 2030.
In that same vein, he said the country would commence its lithium development with local refining, moving progressively into battery-grade chemicals, components, and cells. The country plans to build a 24-hour minerals processing enclave in the Western Region.
"We must move our minerals toward greater value and our people toward greater prosperity," the minister emphasized.
Planned deliberate and well-targeted investments in modernizing agro-processing, textiles and garments manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and biomanufacturing, and investments in developing the technology sector are all part of the proposed new economy.
To support industrialization, the minister said Ghana would invest 2.2 billion dollars in energy infrastructure, including investing 200 million dollars in a 24-month nuclear-readiness programme.
Forson said the programme would be financed partly by reducing the primary surplus target by one percentage point of gross domestic product (GDP) over the period and through tax reforms and compliance measures expected to generate additional revenue equivalent to 0.5 percent of GDP.
Backed by a 3-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, the West African country completed its 36-month reforms in May, with inflation, which had peaked at 54.1 percent in December 2022, running at 5.5 percent in October 2026.
