The Institute for Liberty and Economic Education (ILEE) has hosted the Ghana Economic Summit 2025 at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Accra, bringing together leading economists, policymakers, and business thinkers under the theme “From Policy to Prosperity: Building a Framework for Ghana’s Economic Future.”
The summit featured a robust exchange of ideas on how Ghana can balance policy reform, personal agency, and free-market growth to achieve sustainable development.
Delivering a keynote presentation, Dr Ryan M. Yonk, Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), argued that the foundation of development lies in individuals rather than institutions. “Empowering individuals to make their own decisions allows them to craft a better future for themselves, their communities, and their country,” he said.
He urged policymakers to remove regulatory barriers that hinder innovation and self-reliance. “Development doesn’t come from government programmes; it comes from people making choices that change their lives,” Dr Yonk emphasized, calling for reforms that would unlock Ghana’s entrepreneurial potential.
Another speaker, Dr Peter Earle, examined the global financial environment, warning that “discipline is being replaced by opportunism”, with short-term political gains threatening long-term economic stability. He called on Ghana and other African nations to adopt rule-based monetary systems and uphold fiscal integrity. “Credibility, once lost, takes years to rebuild,” Dr Earle said, adding that “stable money is the foundation upon which prosperity is built.”
ILEE President Eric Coffie described the summit as a call to action for Ghana’s private sector. “Our aim is to create an enabling environment where individuals can freely build and grow their businesses,” he stated. Coffie emphasized that reducing bureaucracy and taxes would drive innovation and enterprise, remarking that “when government steps back, innovation steps forward.”
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, stressed the importance of maintaining currency stability. “If the cedi is stable but built on weak fundamentals, then we are only pretending,” he cautioned.
“The central bank must know exactly what it is doing because if the government succeeds, we all succeed,” he added.
The event concluded with networking sessions and panel discussions on entrepreneurship, governance, and financial reforms. Participants broadly agreed that Ghana’s next phase of economic transformation will depend not only on sound policies but also on trust, discipline, and the empowerment of citizens to act as key drivers of prosperity.
