Ghana will deposit its instruments of ratification for the establishment of the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund and the African Investment Bank by 2027, Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on Friday at the Extraordinary Session of the AU Executive Council in Accra.
The three institutions are intended to strengthen Africa’s financial independence and capacity to mobilise resources for its development. Ablakwa, speaking on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, the AU Champion for the Establishment of African Union Financial Institutions, urged member states to take concrete steps towards ratifying the instruments before the next Executive Council meeting.
He also announced that Ghana would convene an Extraordinary Summit on African Financial Institutions in Accra in 2027, when the country assumes the AU Chairmanship. The summit would give African leaders a chance to move beyond discussion and make concrete commitments to build, capitalise and operationalise the institutions.
On financing reforms, Ablakwa said member states were projected to fund nearly 99 per cent of the AU’s operational budget in 2027, but only about four per cent of its programme budget and 12 per cent of its peace and security budget. He highlighted the need for African countries to mobilise more domestic resources to finance the continent’s priorities.
The minister pledged that Ghana would strengthen domestic implementation of the 0.2 per cent levy on eligible imports and report progress to the Executive Council. He welcomed a proposed partnership between the AU Commission and the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions, which aims to double the capital and financing capacity of participating institutions within three to five years and mobilise an additional US$200 billion in financing, investment, insurance, guarantees and risk mitigation over the next decade.
Ablakwa called for accelerated implementation of the Pan‑African Payment and Settlement System, deeper African capital markets and the establishment of an African Financial Architecture Scorecard to monitor progress towards financial independence. He stressed that the proposed partnership should complement, rather than replace, financial contributions from AU member states.
Ghana’s ratification effort is part of a broader strategy to reduce the continent’s dependence on external financing and advance Africa’s financial sovereignty.
