2026 Mid-Year Budget Review: DDEP Wasn’t Designed to Solve Ghana’s Problems – Finance Minister

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has accused the former government of postponing Ghana’s debt crisis through the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme instead of fixing it.

Presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament on Thursday, Dr Forson said the structure of the 2022 DDEP created a GhC111 billion debt cliff that the government must now repay between 2027 and 2028.

“In 2027, DDEP Bonds that will fall due are GhC58 billion. Another GhC53 billion will fall due in 2028. In two years alone, Ghana has to repay GhC111 billion. This is the true Agenda 111 Ghana must deal with,” he stated.

The Minister was blunt in his assessment of the exchange programme, saying it failed to address the fundamental problem.

“This is because the DDEP was not designed to solve Ghana’s problems. It was designed to postpone it deliberately, knowingly and cynically, unfortunately. Its architect mortgaged tomorrow to survive today. They had the duty to fix the roof. Instead, they moved the leak to another room and declared the house repaired,” Dr Forson told lawmakers.

To manage the inherited obligations, he said government has strengthened the Sinking Fund under the 2026/27 Medium Term Debt Management Strategy to ensure advance funding instead of last-minute borrowing.

“Meeting obligations of this magnitude requires planning, not last-minute scrambling. This is why the government has strengthened the sinking fund to set aside money to repay future debt obligations we inherited,” he explained.

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