Editorial

Gold cannot be ignored.

Over the last 21 years, merchandise trade expanded nearly nine-fold in dollar terms, rising from US$6billion in 2004 to US$52.5billion for 2025 as stronger exports pushed the country to its largest trade surplus on record.

A leading public policy think-tank, CUTS International, wants the escalating 'delinquency' charges imposed on people who renew or replace a driver’s licence after its expiry date suspended.

The International Monetary Fund, in its latest report accompanying the sixth and final review of Ghana's US$3billion Extended Credit Facility, observed that the Bank of Ghana's domestic gold-buying scheme - run in tandem with state-owned Ghana Gold Board - racked up losses of GH¢22billion, equivalent to 1.5% of gross domestic product, in a single year.

Twenty-one days. That is the notice given to operators of Laboma, the unpermitted beach enclave that has flourished on state-vested military land beside a dying lagoon. The demolition will be filmed. There will be soldiers, a minister and, perhaps, a phrase about ‘political will’. Then, as surely as the tide, the shanties will return.

Following sustained improvements in the debt trajectory, macroeconomic stability and a clearer fiscal outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has signalled that Ghana’s debt distress rating should be upgraded from ‘high’ to ‘moderate risk’.