Key Highlights of Ghana's 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy

On Thursday, November 13, 2025, the Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson (MP) on the authority of the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, and in accordance with Article 179 of the Constitution, 1992 and section 21 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) presented to Parliament the budget statement and economic policy of the government for the 2026 financial year. 

The budget was themed “Resetting for Growth, Jobs and Economic Transformation”.

Macroeconomic Policy Objectives

The Minister stated that the macroeconomic policy objectives for 2026 and the medium term is clear and focused to preserve macroeconomic stability; sustain debt sustainability; sustain growth; and deliver prosperity that every Ghanaian can feel part of. In other to achieve these goals Government will focus on five key macroeconomic objectives: 

·      sustain fiscal discipline and debt sustainability by implementing prudent debt management strategy, improving revenue mobilization, and keeping spending efficient and targeted;

·      build and sustain a resilient and inclusive economy with growth powered by productivity, innovation, and private sector enterprise and create decent jobs especially for our youth;

·      deepen structural reforms to modernize the economy, boost productivity, attract private investment, and make growth more broad based and inclusive;

·      strengthen social protection so that the most vulnerable, particularly women, children and the poor are shielded from hardship and benefit from Ghana’s recovery; and

·      maintain a flexible exchange rate regime and prudent monetary policy to preserve price stability, protect savings and support investment.

Fiscal Policy Objectives

The Minister stated that to deliver on the vision and macroeconomic objective of the Government, the fiscal policy priorities for 2026 are:

·      Maintain fiscal discipline by sustaining a primary surplus of at least 1.5 percent of GDP on commitment basis under the Fiscal Responsibility Framework;

·      Mobilise more domestic revenue through continuous implementation of the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy, digital tax systems and enforcement of taxation in the digital economy;

·      Cut waste, promote value for money and rationalize spending, ensuring that every cedi delivers value for citizens while eliminating leakages and inefficiency;

·      Protect priority social spending in education, health and social protection to shield the poor and sustain human capital development;

·      Create fiscal space for development by prioritising growth-enhancing capital investments in roads, agriculture, agri-business and land reforms;

·      Strengthen debt sustainability through prudent borrowing, active debt management and transparent reporting;

·      Enhance expenditure control and audit systems to prevent arrears and improve accountability across all MDAs; and

·      Stay flexible and proactive, adjusting expenditure and revenue measures where needed to keep the fiscal path on track.

Revenue Measures 

The Minister also stated that on the revenue side, the Government will deepen domestic resource mobilization through implementation of the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy, thereby improving tax compliance, expanding the tax base and deploying digital tools to track and tax e-commerce, cross-border transactions and the extractive sector. 

VAT reforms 

In addition, the Government will execute VAT reforms. The new VAT reforms will:

·      abolish the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy;

·      abolish the decoupling of the GETFund and NHIL levies from the VAT tax base, allowing both levies to be subject to input tax deductions; 

·      abolish VAT on reconnaissance and prospecting of minerals; 

·      reduce the effective VAT rate from 21.9% to 20%; 

·      raise the VAT registration threshold from GH¢200,000 to GH¢750,000; and 

·      extend the VAT zero-rating on the supply of locally manufactured textiles to 2028.

Digital VAT administration 

Also, the government will deploy electronic and digital solutions to improve VAT administration. Specifically;

·      The introduction of digital solutions for tax collection systems, allowing for the monitoring and collection of VAT on cross-border transactions conducted on digital platforms owned by non-resident taxpayers;

·      The introduction and operationalization of Fiscal Electronic Devices (FED) to enhance compliance and facilitate the monitoring of taxable transactions by VAT taxpayers; and

·      The introduction of a VAT reward scheme is designed to encourage the public to assist with policing VAT revenue by collecting VAT receipts for purchases they make. This will allow taxpayers to use their VAT receipts to benefit from a VAT promotion and reward scheme.

Comprehensive tax reforms

Again, the government will beyond the VAT reform embark on a comprehensive reform of Ghana’s key tax laws, including the Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896), Customs Act, 2015 (Act 891), and Excise Duty Act, 2014 (Act 878) to align them with global best practices, promote equity and competitiveness, simplify compliance, and enhance revenue generation.

Finally, government will take measure to close the revenue leakages at the port and deepen international tax cooperation.

Expenditure Measures 

To achieve and support the fiscal sustainability agenda of the Government, the Minister stated that the key expenditure measures for the 2026 fiscal year include the following:

·      contain recurrent spending by capping non-essential expenditures such as foreign travel, workshops, and vehicle procurements and eliminating low impact programmes; 

·      rationalize earmarked funds towards high-impact and job-creating projects in roads, energy, agriculture, and education; 

·      reinforce the commitment authorisation process, ensuring that no new projects are initiated without budgetary approval or funding. This will prevent the accumulation of arrears and strengthen accountability across all MDAs; 

·      continue to strengthen social protection systems by safeguarding allocations to LEAP, NHIS, School Feeding, and Free Secondary Education. These programmes remain central to our vision of inclusive growth and shared prosperity; and 

·      prioritize capital investment in infrastructure and growth-enabling sectors with special focus on the Big Push Programme and the 24-Hour Economy Programme, both designed to expand productive capacity, unlock private investment, and create jobs for the youth.

The following operational structure reforms will be pursued to further strengthen expenditure discipline and improve value for money:

·      full roll-out of the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) integration with the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS);

·      government will enforce sanctions under Sections 96 to 98 of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, particularly for breaches relating to arrears accumulation and non-compliance with commitment controls;

·      the payroll validation exercise, led by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, the Ghana Audit Service, and the Public Services Commission, will be sustained to remove ghost names and ensure that only legitimate employees remain on the public payroll;

·      a comprehensive review and audit of the budget preparation and implementation process will be undertaken to streamline workflows, enhance transparency, prevent arrears accumulation, and ensure value for money;

·      implement recommendations from the comprehensive arrears and commitments audit, conducted by the Ghana Audit Service with EY and PwC, to prevent accumulation of new arrears;

·      strengthen fiscal discipline and accountability through the operationalisation of the revised Fiscal Responsibility Act and stronger sanctions for non compliance; and

·      institutionalize quarterly expenditure reviews and real-time audit monitoring to prevent overspending and improve efficiency.

Establishment of the Value for Money Office (VfMO)

Also government will establish an independent Value for Money Office (VfMO), that will be Ghana’s permanent guardian of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and accountability. VfMO will have legal power to review, certify and sanction. Its key objectives are, among others:

·      verify that major projects are economically justified and technically sound; 

·      ensure prices reflect national cost benchmarks; 

·      require measurable results from MDAs and MMDAs; and 

·      publish transparent performance reports for citizens and Parliament.