Energy sector is Ghana’s biggest economic threat – IMF warns
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has strongly backed Ghana’s Finance Minister in identifying the country’s energy sector as the single most serious threat to its economic recovery and long-term stability.
According to Stéphane Roudet, the IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, the Fund fully agrees that inefficiencies and persistent financial imbalances within the energy sector, particularly issues related to revenue collection and cost recovery represent a major risk that could derail Ghana’s fiscal consolidation efforts.
Speaking to Ghanaian journalists during the recent IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., Roudet reiterated the Fund’s deep and ongoing concerns about the sector.
He stressed that addressing these challenges is not optional but fundamental to the success of Ghana’s three-year IMF-supported program.
“We knew from the beginning of the program that there were serious structural problems in the energy sector. The core issue is the significant gap between the revenues collected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the actual cost of producing and delivering electricity. This mismatch is what we refer to as the energy sector shortfall,” Roudet said.
This gap, he explained, continues to create a drain on public finances, undermines macroeconomic stability, and puts pressure on government resources that could otherwise be used for development and social services.
Despite these challenges, the IMF official expressed confidence in the Ghanaian government’s stated commitment to reforming the sector.
He noted that tackling these inefficiencies head-on is critical for meeting the program’s targets and ultimately restoring economic resilience.