Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson says Ghana’s New Economy programme is designed to lift the country to investment-grade status, a move he believes will lower government borrowing costs and unlock long-term financing for Ghanaian businesses. Speaking at a New Economy engagement in Accra on November 8th, 2026, Dr Forson said attaining investment grade would lay the foundation for a thriving corporate bond market. “If we are able to get to investment grade, we would have laid the foundation for corporate bonds and others to take off,” he said.Ghana currently sits five notches below investment grade at Fitch, which rates the country at B with a positive outlook, and six notches below at Moody’s and S&P, which rate it at B3 and B- respectively. Investment grade begins at BBB- with Fitch and S&P, and Baa3 with Moody’s. Dr Forson noted that each upgrade would widen the pool of investors able to buy Ghana’s bonds, as many pension funds and institutional investors are restricted to investment-grade debt. He added that a stronger sovereign rating would improve financing conditions for companies and support the growth of the domestic corporate bond market, stressing that success would depend on maintaining economic stability and demonstrating that current reforms will endure.
Ghana’s domestic bond market largely shut down in 2022 following the government’s default on most of its external debt and the launch of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), which saw local banks lose their foreign credit lines. Dr Forson said the market has since been restored, with Ghana completing its three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in July 2026 and returning to the domestic bond market around the same period. The next major test, he noted, will be the maturity of GH¢58 billion in DDEP bonds in 2027 and a further GH¢53 billion in 2028, which government plans to meet through a sinking fund backed by seven per cent of non-oil tax revenue. In July, Dr Forson also ruled out a return to the Eurobond market for the rest of 2026.
