Ghana will introduce a new Loans Act to legally restrict how the government uses borrowed money, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson announced on Monday, March 30, 2026, framing the legislation as a central pillar of the country’s push to avoid a return to the debt crisis that forced it into an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in 2022.
Dr Forson made the announcement shortly after signing Ghana’s 11th bilateral debt restructuring agreement, this time with the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM India), describing the legislation as a key part of a broader reset of the country’s debt management strategy.
Under the proposed legislation, all public borrowing will be strictly tied to clearly defined, high-impact investments, with measurable value-for-money benchmarks required before any loan is approved. The law is intended to eliminate borrowing for recurrent expenditure and non-productive purposes, a practice widely cited as a key contributor to Ghana’s fiscal deterioration between 2019 and 2022.
“Our guiding principle is simple: whatever we borrow must be worth it and must deliver tangible benefits to the Ghanaian people,” Dr Forson said.
EXIM India’s Resident Representative Rajesh Kumar Gulla, who co-signed the restructuring agreement, said the institution was encouraged by Ghana’s recent economic progress and expressed confidence in the country’s recovery trajectory.
Ghana’s domestic debt restructuring achieved approximately 85 percent completion, after which the government turned to external creditors, including bilateral partners under the Paris Club framework, to restructure approximately $5.4 billion in bilateral obligations. Monday’s agreement with EXIM India is the 11th such deal concluded under that programme.
Dr Forson said Ghana is making measurable progress toward a lower debt risk classification. “We are moving steadily towards a low risk of debt distress, with clear indicators that the worst is behind us,” he said, adding that the government would honour all restructured obligations on time. “Ghana will not return to a path of unsustainable borrowing.”
No timeline for the introduction of the Loans Act to Parliament was announced.
