President John Dramani Mahama is presenting his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, February 27, 2026.
The SONA is a constitutional obligation, which requires the President to give an update on government commitments and outline key priorities for the year. The address is delivered to the people of Ghana on the floor of Parliament.
To improve public debate and hold politicians accountable, GhanaFact is conducting a live-fact-checking of the address by the President.
Live fact-checking is real time verification of claims being made by the president. We will check promises made in the last address and track new ones that will be made with analysis of key claims where necessary.
We have previously done similar live fact-checking during budget presentations (find here, here, and here).
Claim 1: “Our primary surplus reached 2.6% of GDP, far exceeding our target of 1.5%,” President Mahama.
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Fact-check: Per the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) release of January 26, 2026, Ghana recorded a primary balance of 2.8% at the end of 2025. This exceeded the IMF’s projection of 1.5%.
Verdict: Understated
Claim 2: “Average GDP growth for the first 3 quarters of 2025 is reported at 6.1%,” President Mahama.
Fact-check: According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) quarterly newsletter, Ghana recorded a GDP of 6.4% in the first quarter of 2025, 6.5 in quarter 2, and 5.5% in quarter 3. Therefore, the average GDP growth of the first 3 quarters of 2025 is 6.1%
Verdict: True
Claim 3: “Our reserves currently stand at 13.8 billion dollars from 8.9 billion dollars at the end of 2024. This covers 5.7 months of imports.
Fact-check: Per the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) release of January 26, 2026, “Gross International Reserves increased to US$13.8 billion, equivalent to 5.7 months of import cover, at end-December 2025, compared to US$9.1 billion, equivalent to 4.1 months of import cover at end-December 2024. “
Therefore, while the reserves is 13.8 billion at the end of 2025, the reserves at the end of 2024 was 9.1 billion not 8.9 billion as claimed.
Verdict: Partly True
Claim 4: “Over 1 million Ghanaians have found employment between Q1-Q3 2025.”
Fact-check: Per the Ghana Statistical Service Q1-Q3 Labour Force Statistics 2025, employment increased by over 330,000 persons, and female employment consistently exceeded male employment.
The government statistician emphasized the 330,000 figure during his address on the release of the report in a Facebook reel by GSS.
Verdict: False
Claim 5: “The cedi appreciated by 40.7% against the Dollar, and 30.9% against the pounds, 24% Euro.”
Fact-check: According to the Bank of Ghana’s January 2026 MPC report, the cedi appreciated against the US dollar by over 40%, as against a depreciation recorded in the year prior. “In 2025, the cedi recorded an appreciation of 40.7 percent against the US dollar, compared with a depreciation of 19.2 percent in 2024.”
The Finance Minister’s February 23, 2026, update on the cedi performance also noted that: “The cedi appreciated against the US dollar by 40.7% by end-December 2025, 30.9% against the pound sterling, and 24.0% against the euro.”
Verdict: True
Claim 6: “Public debt fell by 82.1 billion Ghana cedis and took our debt-to-GDP from 61.8% to 45.3%.”
Fact-check: The Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee press release of January 2026 confirmed the two debt-to-GDP figures cited by the president. “Public debt declined to 45.5 percent of GDP at end-November 2025, down from 63.1 percent a year earlier,” the report stated.
But did public debt fall by 82.1 billion cedis?
GhanaFact found a Facebook post by Joy News citing the finance ministry quoting 82.1 million fall in public debt. Per our computation, however, the difference in the two figures cited, GH¢726.7 billion and GH¢641.0 billion, comes up to 85.5 billion cedis, not 82.1 billion cedis.
Verdict: Partly True
Claim 7: “As at January 2025, food inflation stood at 28.3%, following an unprecedented peak of 61% in January 2023.”
Fact-check: To fact-check this claim, GhanaFact reference the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in 2023 and 2025. According to these reports, food inflation stood at 61.0% as of January 2023 and 28.3% in January 2025.
Verdict: True
Claim 8:
“In 2025, Ghana’s GDP is expected to reach USD 113 billion, an increase from USD 83 billion dollars at the end of 2024. This has placed Ghana among the top ten largest economies in Africa.”
Fact-check: According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), data for 2026 is projected to reach 113.49 billion dollars, as against 82.83 billion dollars at the end of 2024. The 2025 GDP figure per the IMF was 111.96 billion dollars.
An analysis of the IMF data portal also confirms that Ghana, with a GDP of USD 113.49 billion, will be in the top 10 African economies per GDP, only ahead of the Ivory Coast (over USD 111 billion) and Angola (over USD 109 billion).
Verdict: True
Claim 9: “The energy sector was burdened with 80 million in debt. The government has repaid the entire US$500 million World Bank guarantee, including interest.”
Fact-check: The Finance Ministry published a release on January 26, 2026, stating that the government had paid US$1.470 billion to clear energy sector debt and restore the World Bank guarantee.
In this brief, the ministry clearly noted that “As a result, the World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee of US$500 million had been completely depleted under the previous administration.”
Verdict: True
