President John Mahama has inaugurated Ghana’s five-member Independent Fiscal Council, activating the body created to assess government fiscal policy and compliance with the country’s fiscal responsibility rules.
The Council was inaugurated at the Presidency on 8 September and has a four-year mandate under the Public Financial Management (Amendment) Act, 2025, Act 1136.
Its role is more specific than general economic advice. The Council is meant to independently scrutinise fiscal policy, assess compliance with established rules and promote accountability in public finances.
One rule requires government to maintain an annual positive primary balance of at least 1.5% of gross domestic product on a commitment basis.
The second requires public debt to fall to 45% of GDP or lower by 2034.
The Council is chaired by Emmanuel Oteng Kumah, an international economic consultant and former board chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana. Its other members are former Bank of Ghana Governor Henry Kofi Wampah, University of Ghana Business School academic Patrick Opoku Asuming, Leslie Dwight Mensah, who represents think tanks, and J. Kweku Bedu-Addo, a former public policy expert at the Ministry of Finance.
The Presidency first announced the five nominees in April. Their inauguration moves the institution from appointment into the stage where its assessments can be checked against actual budgets, debt figures and fiscal-rule compliance.
At the inauguration, President Mahama pledged to respect the Council’s independence and said members would have the institutional support to carry out the mandate.