Two prominent Ghanaian academics, Emeritus Professor Ernest Aryeetey and Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, have raised concerns about the country’s over-reliance on Bretton Woods institutions, specifically the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, for policy direction, criticizing successive governments for failing to take ownership of Ghana’s economic reform agenda, and instead relying on external consultants to shape the country’s development strategy.
Professor Aryeetey argues that these consultants often bring perspectives based on their own experiences, which may not fit Ghana’s unique context, and that the country has not invested enough in developing its own technical capacity to design and execute economic transformation policies.
“In a way, when we went to the Washington Group to seek support for what we were doing, we didn’t always go to them with a clear plan of what we wanted,” the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana said. “We often went to say something like we want to do something about agriculture, and they would say okay fine, we’ll send you some experts to come and help you.”
Prof. Aryeetey explained that such experts, often from different countries, naturally bring perspectives based on their own experiences — which may not fit Ghana’s unique context. This, he said, is partly because the country has not invested enough in developing its own technical capacity to design and execute economic transformation policies.
“These experts are coming from different countries; they are going to sell to you what they do in their own countries, and this is because we have not invested enough in the capacity of people who could tell the government how to transform our sectors,” he said.
He stressed that for Ghana to make meaningful economic progress, it must build and rely on local expertise capable of defining and driving its own development vision.
“You don’t let a World Bank consultant come and tell you what you need to do,” he noted. “You should be telling him or her, this is what I want to do — can you help me structure it, not ask him what should I do.”
Prof. Aryeetey’s remarks reignite debate on the effectiveness of Ghana’s long-standing engagement with multilateral lenders and the broader question of whether externally driven economic prescriptions have truly served the country’s long-term development needs.
Meanwhile, Prof. Oquaye asserts that IMF programs have imposed restrictive policies that weaken innovation and limit the government’s fiscal flexibility, failing to bring sustainable growth.
Call for Homegrown Solutions
Both professors emphasize the need for Ghana to build and rely on local expertise capable of defining and driving its own development vision.
Prof. Oquaye suggests that Ghana should focus on effective use of its abundant natural resources, such as gold, oil, and diamond, to drive economic growth.
They argue that Ghana should rethink its approach to economic management and seek homegrown solutions rather than relying on external institutions.
Current Situation
Ghana is currently implementing its 17th IMF-supported program, a US$3 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and ensuring debt sustainability.
Some analysts have raised doubts about the government’s ability to exit the program within the scheduled timeframe of May 2026
