…The Inaugural Executive Dialogue brought together government, business, academia and development partners together to move from diagnosis to implementation The inaugural Business
The report indicates that …The Inaugural Executive Dialogue brought together government, business, academia and development partners together to move from diagnosis to implementation
It further notes that the inaugural Business Roundtable Extended 2026 Executive Dialogue has called for Ghana to use its current period of macroeconomic stabilisation to build a more productive, diversified, competitive and resilient economy. Held at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra under the theme ‘After the Corrections: Building Resilient Economic Pillars for the Next Decade’, the executive forum was convened by Ishmael Yamson & Associates through the Ishmael & Yamson Foundation. The event brought together senior public officials, private-sector leaders, development partners, academics, members of the media and other stakeholders for a focused conversation on how Ghana can sustain its recent economic gains and translate them into broad-based prosperity.
BRT Extended builds on twelve years of the annual Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable. Unlike the larger Roundtable, the extended format is designed as a smaller, more focused forum in which decision-makers can test ideas, confront difficult questions and leave with practical commitments rather than general consensus.
Opening the event, Mr. Ishmael Yamson Jnr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Ishmael Yamson & Associates, argued that Ghana’s most persistent challenge is not a lack of understanding of its economic problems, but a failure to sustain implementation. “Ghana does not have a diagnosis problem. We know precisely what is wrong with this economy, and we have for thirty years,” he said. He explained that the smaller format was intentional: “A large room is good for consensus. A small room is better for commitment.” He also challenged the private sector to accept its share of responsibility for recurring economic crises, including the pursuit of exemptions, short-term capital allocation and advantage through proximity to power rather than productivity.
Representing the Minister for Finance, Hon. Thomas Nyarko Ampem, Deputy Minister for Finance, acknowledged Ghana’s recent macroeconomic improvements and presented the government’s framework for moving from correction to construction. The Deputy Minister stated the country must not become complacent because of favourable indicators. “Macroeconomic stability matters, but it is not enough,” he said, stressing that stability must reach factories, farms, markets, small businesses and households through value addition, productivity enhancement and job creation. He outlined five pillars for the decade ahead: stronger economic buffers; a more productive economy; a private sector capable of investing; institutions stronger than the political cycle; and growth that Ghanaians can feel.
The first pillar focuses on preparing Ghana for future shocks through stronger reserves, sustainable debt, fiscal buffers, energy security and food security. The second calls for a change in what Ghana produces, how much it produces and how productively it produces, with stronger connections between agriculture and agro-processing, mining and domestic value chains, energy and industry, technology and enterprise, and skills and jobs.
The third pillar centres on enabling private-sector investment. The Deputy Minister emphasised that lower financing costs must translate into productive credit for production, innovation, exports and long-term investment. “Ghanaian businesses must not just be protected from competition. They must be equipped to win competition,” he said.
The fourth pillar is institutional. “We cannot build a ten-year economy with four-year thinking,” he stated, calling for fiscal rules, commitment controls, procurement rules and debt limits to be enforced across political cycles. The fifth pillar places a human face on resilience by linking economic policy to infrastructure, enterprise development, skills, apprenticeships, digital capabilities, exports and employment.
The Deputy Minister framed the government’s expectations of the private sector as a new compact: government must provide stability, predictability, infrastructure, efficient regulation and fiscal discipline, while business must respond with investment, innovation, productivity, exports and jobs.
The moderated panel, chaired by Jerry Adjorlolo, featured Dr. Adrian Alter, IMF Resident Representative and Head of Office in Ghana; Hon. Abena Osei-Asare, Member of Parliament for Atiwa East and Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee; and Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin, Economist and Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School.
The discussion tested whether the government’s proposed pillars could become durable structural reforms or remain dependent on the priorities of individual ministers and political administrations.
Prof. Bokpin acknowledged Ghana’s macroeconomic progress but warned that headline indicators alone do not fully describe the condition of households and businesses. “GDP is not the economy. GDP is a proxy, is a snapshot for the economy,” he said, urging policymakers to focus on the quality and distribution of growth.
He argued that fiscal discipline should not be reduced to spending less. It must mean spending well, achieving value for money and directing resources towards infrastructure, productive capacity and long-term development. He also called for environmental sustainability to be integrated into economic planning, particularly in response to irresponsible mining and the degradation of natural resources.
A recurring theme in his contribution was the need to broaden Ghana’s taxable economy rather than placing ever-higher pressure on a narrow formal tax base. He advocated deeper integration of agriculture into the formal economy, stronger indigenous businesses, research-led development and the deliberate scaling of enterprises from micro firms into larger, trackable Ghanaian companies.
