Ghana is accelerating the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital systems across its public financial management architecture, with authorities vowing to move beyond compliance frameworks toward real-time enforcement and data-driven accountability.

Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Ampem Nyarko made the declaration at the 2026 annual conference of the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), where he outlined the next phase of fiscal reforms under the Mahama administration.

“These have been foundational to our fiscal credibility,” Nyarko said of recent reforms. “They signal to citizens, investors, and development partners that Ghana is serious about discipline, accountability, and reform. However, we cannot be complacent because in public finance, good is never good enough.”

Central to the government’s current strategy is the continued rollout of an AI-powered customs system to detect undervaluation, misclassification, and revenue leakages at the country’s ports. Nyarko has previously disclosed that between 2020 and 2025, Ghana recorded imports worth 127 billion US dollars, but only 52 billion US dollars was declared at the border, underscoring what he described as an urgent need for advanced digital inspection.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has reported that the Publican AI system, deployed at ports including Tema in early 2026, is already exposing long-standing imbalances in the import sector by detecting undervalued declarations that previously allowed some importers to gain an unfair pricing advantage over compliant businesses. Nyarko has said the system is generating an average of three million US dollars a day in additional revenue.

At the CAGD conference, the minister announced that a newly created Public Financial Management (PFM) Systems Division has been established within the Ministry of Finance to ensure reforms are delivered on time and within budget. A PFM Compliance Leak Table has also been introduced to rank public institutions based on their adherence to financial rules, as part of efforts to make accountability visible and enforceable.

Digital VAT systems, fiscal devices and real-time monitoring tools are being rolled out to modernise revenue administration more broadly. “We must accept that rules are not enough,” Nyarko said. “They must be measured, enforced, and visible.”

The minister stressed that the reform agenda is fundamentally about building the capabilities to govern through data. “Modern fiscal governance requires new capabilities including data analytics, systems thinking, and risk-based decision making,” he said.

The government has also linked the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) with the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to enforce budget compliance, ensuring that contracts are only approved for projects within approved allocations. A Digital Treasury Dashboard is being introduced to enable real-time tracking of public fund disbursements, projected to reduce waste by 15 percent.

Nyarko described the CAGD as central to Ghana’s economic transformation, arguing that stronger controls and reporting systems will determine whether public resources translate into tangible infrastructure and social services. “We know that fiscal governance is the foundation upon which economic stability, investor confidence, and national development are built,” he said, concluding with a note of cautious optimism. “The economy is stabilizing. Confidence is returning. The foundation is firm. Now we must build.”