Ghanaian President John Mahama unveiled the outlines of his «New Economy» plan on 8 November 2026, a US$9 billion investment programme aimed at creating one million formal jobs between 2027 and 2030. The plan is the NDC government's response to the economic crisis inherited from the Akufo-Addo era, marked by an external default and restructured debt.
The «New Economy» initiative revolves around four main axes: local industrialisation through the processing of raw materials (gold, bauxite, cocoa), renewable energy development, modernisation of agricultural infrastructure and digitalisation of public services. Each axis will benefit from dedicated funding, financed through a mix of domestic resources, concessional loans and public-private partnerships.
«We have gold, cocoa, bauxite. We can no longer afford to export them raw while others profit from their transformation», declared President Mahama at a conference in Accra. The plan includes the construction of five new cocoa processing plants and the inauguration of a bauxite processing complex at Awaso, in the Western Region.
Budgetarily, the programme will be partly financed through savings from the external debt restructuring, finalised in August 2026 with Paris Club creditors and eurobond holders. This restructuring reduced debt service by approximately US$1.5 billion per year through 2030, creating unprecedented fiscal space for productive investment.
International partners have expressed interest. The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced a preliminary package of US$850 million to support the plan's industrial infrastructure projects. Discussions are also underway with the European Union under the «Global Gateway» mechanism for green energy projects.
Economists remain cautious about execution capacity. «Ghana's track record shows a tendency to announce ambitious plans that run out of steam due to weak governance», noted one World Bank analyst. «The real question is the institutional capacity to deploy US$9 billion in four years.»