Dr Kwabena Duffuor

Minister for Finance and Economic Planning

Education: O Levels and A Levels, Prempeh College, Kumasi, 1957-64; BSc Economics, University of Ghana, 1964-68; MBA, Finance and Banking, Syracuse University, New York, United States, 1974; MA Economics, Syracuse University, 1975; PhD International Finance, Syracuse University, 1979.

Career: Volta River Authority, 1968-70; Chief Economist, Head of Research Department, and General Manager of London Branch, Ghana Commercial Bank, 1969-95; Economist, Africa Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF), 1979-80; Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana, 1995-97; Governor, Bank of Ghana, 1997-2001; Finance Minister, 2009 to date.

Commentary: Perhaps the toughest job in President John Atta Mills's government is the Finance and Economic Planning portfolio, held by Kwabena Duffuor. Having, by reducing duties and levies, brought petrol prices down by 5% to fulfil Mills's campaign pledge, the government was then forced to raise them to match world market prices.
November 2010 saw him announce, in a budget that pleased almost nobody, the most cautious projections on oil export revenues and effects of fresh Chinese loan finance. There is a brutal logic to Duffuor's calculations as he strives to balance the books and pay off substantial arrears to domestic contractors. But that logic – which involves tax hikes across the board – is not one that appeals to the ruling National Democratic Congress, now preparing for national elections in 2012.
He insists that much work still has to be done to stabilise Ghana's economy - his projections are about a third of previous estimates of revenues from Ghana's first full year as an oil exporter.