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H.E John Dramani Mahama, the President of the Republic of Ghana, recently held strategic engagements with Prof. Victor Murinde, the AERC Executive Director. This was during an AERC  mission to Accra, Ghana, which took place on July 17, 2025. 

The visit underscored AERC’s commitment to forging stronger partnerships with African governments amid evolving global economic trends and dynamics. A key focus was the AERC’s new Strategic Plan 2025–2035, themed “Reinventing the AERC for Delivering Africa’s Inclusive Economic Prosperity.” The strategic plan outlines a reform agenda to strengthen research excellence, enhance policy influence, and ensure long-term institutional sustainability.

H.E President Mahama noted that the AERC is an important institution because of its influence on how African economies are managed. He added that AERC, being a leading institution in producing high-quality economic policy research in Africa, should engage more to enhance its visibility on the continent. “The AERC has increasingly received global acclaim for its quality products and services and is ranked highly among global development think tanks” the President further added. 

AERC Executive Director, Prof. Murinde, observed that the Presidency of the Republic of Ghana has a premium stake in the AERC. “Through research and co-production of evidence-based economic policy solutions research, the AERC promised to support the Presidency of the Republic of Ghana in many critical research ideas and to translate the research into high policy uptake.

Prof. Murinde also said that there will be collaboration between the AERC and Government of Ghana Research Programme on “Jobs through Trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).” The other crucial activity will be The AERC & Government of Ghana Summit, which will be a platform for launching transformation dialogues on: (i) External Debt and Trade Solutions; (ii) FinTech and Digital Solutions; as well as (iii) Critical Minerals and Industrial Policy.

The AERC’s ten-year aspirations are highly congruent with Ghana’s twenty-four-hour (24H+) nationwide industrialization vision to drive round-the-clock production, enhance exports, and attract private investment via public-private partnerships. 

H.E President Mahama observed that the 24H+ programme is positioned as a nationwide economic reboot, with the goal of creating 1.7 million quality jobs within four years. It targets strategic value chains in agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, infrastructure, and logistics. The initiative is designed to harness the potential of every Ghanaian, every hour of the day, and reduce reliance on imports while boosting exports.

“Ghana seeks to re-engineer its productivity architecture by extending economic activity beyond conventional hours and integrating key sectors into a seamless value chain. This transformative economic policy dubbed the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme will be a game changer for the country,” he said.

H.E President Mahama also acknowledged Ghana’s weighty public debt service obligations that have resulted in a large risk premium on interest rates, periodic bouts of financial market instability, and a crowding out of bank credit to the private sector, all of which have contributed to a very low potential growth rate. Preserving the integrity of fiscal policy adjustment will henceforth be predicated on timely and continued efforts to further strengthen revenue administration, as well as to bolster public fiscal management, he said.

This mission was highly successful because Ghanaian policy makers and research economists have been active in the AERC network for more than three decades, participating in research projects, graduate training programmes and policy engagement. The current Chair of the AERC Board, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, is Ghanaian. The most active Ghanaian economists in the AERC network have come from University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Bank of Ghana and the Ministries of Finance as well as Ministry of Trade & Industry and research institutions.