Maxwell Opoku-Afari

Non-Resident Fellow

Former First Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana and Former Deputy Division Chief/Mission Chief, International Monetary Fund

Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari is a distinguished economist and policymaker with nearly three decades of experience in central banking and international finance. He has held senior positions at both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of Ghana. Dr Opoku-Afari was appointed as the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana on August 7, 2017, and concluded his two-term assignment on February 5, 2025. In his role as First Deputy Governor, he provided oversight for the Bank’s Economic Policy, Payments Systems and FinTech, Research and Capacity Development, Currency Management, and Risk Management, among other functions. Additionally, he served on numerous Boards and Committees within and outside the Bank and co-chaired the Government’s Economic Policy Coordinating Committee. Dr Opoku-Afari holds a first degree in Economics and Statistics, an MPhil in Economics, both from the University of Ghana, Legon, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. His expertise and leadership have been widely recognised, and he has received numerous awards and honours throughout his career. He is currently a Fellow (FGA) of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB), the Institute of Directors, Ghana (IoD), and chairs the Advisory Board of the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana.