As Ghana’s Finance Minister for seven years and one of the long serving finance ministers in the history of Ghana since independence, Ken Ofori Atta has played a major role in shaping and growing the country’s economy.
In spite of the obvious global economic shocks and challenges that hit Ghana’s economy at a point in the 2nd term of the NPP government, Ken Ofori Atta as minister of Finance applied prudence and discipline and ensured fiscal responsibility in the economic management process which has in effect lifted the financial status of the country in recent times.
Ofori-Atta’s role in restoring macroeconomic stability, renewed confidence in the Ghanaian economy and other key successes has help lifted the image of the country to an enviable position on the global stage .
A renowned economist at the University of Ghana, Professor George Domfeh praised the former finance minister for the strategic initiative he introduced to reduce the country’s debt stock
“I remember 8 years ago, January 2017, when ken Ofori- Atta became finance minister, the economy was growing around 5.3 percent Debt to GDP ratio in 200I6. It hovered around 73.1 percent so we were in debt crises, I should say. Indeed Ghana plunged into debt crises in 2014. When Ken Ofori Atta became minister he was cautious with his spending expenditure. Higher fiscal deficit pushed Ghana into economic crises in 2014. One remarkable thing about ken Ofori- Atta was that he scrapped all the 7 nuisance taxes .some were scrapped completely with others the rates were reduced . When he became finance minister in 2017. The unique thing is that year Ghana recorded about 40 billion revenue, closer to the 43 billion revenue target despite scraping taxes. That was very remarkable.”
“For the first time in 15 years Ghana registered a positive primary balance in the subsequent 3 years. Hitherto, we were recording negative primary balance. It means that at least we are doing something better today. Had it not been for interest payment, we would have had enough revenue to cover up expenditure .to me that was very significance. But that did not live long because when we entered 2020 and had covid, things didn’t go well for us. When we experienced some crises. NPP inherited a debt to GDP ratio of 73.1 percent and if you use the West Africa monetary ration it mean Ghana was in crises at the time. But Ken managed to handle it.”
“Ghana was in debt crises in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Ken Ofori Atta inherited a debt to GDP ratio of about 71 percent but Ken took over and changed the narrative until the covid crises. Ken Ofori -Atta inherited a debt stock of us$ 21 billion.”
“If you use the nominal , you realize that Jerry Rawlings left a debt stock of us$7.1billion dollars, John Agyekum Kufuor moved it to 8 billion, it means that he added less that I billion to the debt stock .President Mills and Mahama moved it to 29.2 billion. That means they added 21.15 billion to the debt stock. It was this that Ken Ofori -Atta inherited. So because Ken knew much about the capital market he was able to convince the commercial creditors and today as I speak to you, out of the 60 billion Ghana owes, we procured 13.9 billion from the European bond market and now he has been able to arranged with them and they agreed to 37 percent haircut and of the 13 .1 billion that mean Ghana secured a total debt relief of US$4.7 billion.”
“ Then he did the domestic Debt exchange program and though not pleasant for the bond holders , that together with the others helped Ghana’s debt stock to reduce drastically from 60 billion to 44 billion . So it means that Akufo Addo government added 15 billion to the national debt compared to the 21.15 billion that Mills and Mahama added to the debt stock. And as I speak to you it is possible that we may enjoy some debt relief because of the drastic measures Ken Ofori Atta put in place. So today if we have some fiscal space, then I think Ken Ofori Atta should be praised.”
Ken Ofori-Atta introduced the Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) programme , an unprecedented, bold and audacious GHȻ100 billion post COVID programme to stabilize, revitalize and transform Ghana’s economy to create jobs and prosperity for Ghanaians over a three-year period. It was sequenced in two phases: a Stabilization Phase that is running from July to the end of the year (2020); and a medium-term Revitalization Phase from 2021-2023.
Ken Ofori-Atta has held prominent leadership roles in several global financial institutions, including serving as the Chair of the Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee since 2018. His contributions extend to various boards and organisations aimed at economic development and capacity building across Africa.
His distinguished career has been recognized with numerous awards and honours. Ofori-Atta is a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute, acknowledging his leadership and commitment to community improvement. Yale University honoured him as a Donaldson Fellow, recognizing his professional achievements and leadership. Additionally, he was named the Best Africa Finance Minister of the Year by The Banker magazine in 2018, highlighting his significant contributions to Ghana’s economic progress.
Ken Ofori-Atta, won the prestigious Best Finance Minister for Africa award for 2018.
London-based magazine, The Banker, published by the Financial Times Group since 1926, conferred the award on him at a side event of the 2018 African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual meetings in Busan, South Korea.
The award acknowledged Ken Ofori-Atta’s role in restoring macroeconomic stability, renewed confidence in the Ghanaian economy and other key successes achieved upon assumption of office as Ghana’s Finance Minister on January 27, 2017.
Under his leadership as Finance Minister Ghana’s GDP grew from 3.7% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2017; inflation declined from 15.4% in 2016 to the current 9.6% in April 2018; the fiscal deficit of 9.3% in 2016 reduced to 5.9% in 2017 and the debt to GDP ratio of 73.1% in 2016 declined to 69.2% end 2017.
Before becoming Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta co-founded Databank Group in 1990 in Ghana. Prior to that, he was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers on Wall Street in New York. He has other business interests in Insurance, Retail Banking, Private Equity, Micro finance, Pharmaceuticals and Real Estate.
Ken Ofori-Atta holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University in New York and an MBA from Yale School of Management.
