On November 13, the Ghana’s Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson unveiled the 2026 budget before a boisterous Parliament, pledging tax reliefs for businesses, bold industrial policies, 800,000 jobs, and expanded social protection under a disciplined fiscal framework.
Though budgets are an annual ritual, this one feels like a bold blueprint for transformation, not just recovery. But will these ambitious plans move from paper to pavement?
For entrepreneurs like us, Ghana and the broader Africa’s Achilles heel has never been planning; it is always execution.
For decades, we’ve seen brilliant blueprints gather dust while citizens wait for promises to materialise. Throughout the country and continent, roads remain unpaved, factories idle, and social interventions stall, not because of a lack of vision, but because of weak follow-through.
This is why Dr Forson’s generally well-accepted budget must have different results.
Moreso, the 2026 Budget offers the government a rare chance to reset its economic narrative, and it now behoves on every minister, agency head, and public servant to embrace the same urgency and discipline that Dr Forson and President Mahama have demonstrated.
The positives
Having observed budgets over the years, I find this one to be unapologetically pro-business, pro-jobs, and pro-reform.
- Tax reliefs: VAT slashed to 20%, thresholds raised to ease pressure on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – the backbone of the economy, and the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy scrapped. These measures will inject liquidity into businesses and restore confidence in an economy battered by years of turbulence and sucked by taxes.
- Industrial push: The Feed the Industry Programme will link agriculture to manufacturing, ensuring factories run at 70–80% capacity instead of the current 30–40%. Add to that the Oil Palm Development Policy and agro-processing plants for cashew, rice, poultry, and shea could lead to a true industrial renaissance.
- Jobs, jobs, jobs: Over 800,000 jobs are targeted for 2026 through infrastructure projects, TVET expansion, and the 24-Hour Economy initiative. Given that many job creation initiatives have been bandied around in the past, it is comforting that allocations are clear, comprising GH¢170 million for apprenticeships, GH¢110 million for round-the-clock operations, and billions for roads, housing, and energy.
- Social protection: Free SHS fully funded, NHIS uncapped, LEAP expanded, and school feeding scaled up. These are not token gestures but structural commitments to inclusion.
- Fiscal discipline anchored in law: A primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP is now a statutory requirement. Debt-to-GDP is capped at 45% by 2034/35. Procurement reforms mandate electronic platforms for transparency.
Why execution king
While these policies are bold, comprehensive and enduring, here’s the caution: plans don’t build roads, bulldozers do and policies don’t create jobs, projects do.
Ghana and Africa’s development graveyard is littered with brilliant strategies that died in the hands of bureaucracy. Ghana cannot afford to repeat that cycle.
The finance minister and the President might have done their part by showing resolve and putting together concrete policies in a budget.
But the baton now passes to sector ministers, agency heads, and implementing officers. They must move from PowerPoint to pavement, from press conferences to performance and from plans to actions.
Execution demands three things:
- Speed: Delays kill momentum. If procurement bottlenecks stall the Big Push Infrastructure Programme, job targets will evaporate.
- Accountability: Every cedi must deliver value. The Compliance League Table introduced by the Finance Ministry is a good start, but it must bite. The government should endeavour to rank institutions publicly, reward efficiency and sanction inertia.
- Collaboration: Ministries cannot work in silos. Agriculture must talk to Trade. Energy must sync with Industry. Education must align with Labour. Transformation is a team sport, not an individual glory.
Why I believe
Sceptics will ask: “What’s different this time?” My answer is: ‘track record and tone.’
In less than one year, Mahama’s administration has achieved what many thought impossible: inflation down from 23.8% to 8%, the cedi appreciating by 34%, and public debt slashed from 68.9% to 45% of GDP.
These are real outcomes that affect how much revenue businesses can save and how much more clarity firms have when planning.
Dr Forson has restored fiscal discipline without strangling growth, renegotiated independent power producers (IPPs) contracts to save US$250 million, and cut cocoa roads debt from GH¢21 billion to GH¢6 billion. This is evidence of a government that acts in the interest of the people and the public purse.
But leadership at the top is not enough; it is the relevant catalyst.
If ministers and agency heads don’t match this urgency, the reset will stall. Ghana’s future cannot hinge on two men; it must rest on an ecosystem of execution.
Way forward
This presents the government with a bold challenge: prove the public right.
They need to prove that Ghana can break the cycle of grand plans and poor delivery. They need to prove again that this budget will not be another glossy document filed away in archives.
Therefore, I humbly suggest that:
- If you’re a minister, own your targets. Publish quarterly scorecards. Let citizens track progress in real time.
- If you’re an agency head, cut the red tape. Move from process obsession to outcome obsession.
- If you’re a procurement officer, remember this: every delay is a job denied, every inflated contract is a classroom unfunded, and hundreds of mouths and lives are deprived of their bona fide service or good.
It must be stressed that the world is moving faster. Neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire is scaling agro-processing. Rwanda is doubling down on digital and leadership. Nigeria is pushing energy reforms.
Ghana cannot afford to lag. It is evident that the private sector is ready, investors are watching, and the diaspora is again hopeful.
But hope needs proof, and that proof comes from execution.
By Seidu Agongo, a businessman and philanthropist
