Ghana’s IMF Programme: We have established very decisive measures, they’ve started yielding results – BoG

The Bank of Ghana has stated that the decisive measures put in place together with the government have started yielding results, signaling a faster-than-expected turnaround that needs to be sustained as the economy is reset.

Giving brief remarks at the Concluding Meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) First Review, Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ernest Addison, said it is therefore very important to sustain this strong performance and consolidate the gains so far.

“More specifically, Non-Food inflation has dropped significantly by 19 percentage points. Food inflation has also gone down by some 8%, and core inflation, which measures underlying inflation, is also decelerating at a fast pace”.

From the beginning of the year to date, the Bank of Ghana has built reserves of about $650 million instead of a programmed drawdown of $98 million. This has been boosted by the innovative Gold for Reserves programme.

The Governor said, “As a result, we have seen relative stability in the exchange rate, depreciating by only 2.5% between February till date”.

“Looking ahead, the Bank of Ghana will continue to maintain a tight monetary policy stance until it is confident that inflation is firmly anchored and aligned with the disinflation path agreed in the programme”, he added.

“There would be challenges and difficulties as we work towards sustaining these gains but we remained focused and committed to the reforms and prudent policies to ensure the full benefits of this program are achieved”, the Governor added.

Dr. Addison commended the entire IMF team for the constructive engagement during the past two weeks on all issues bordering on fiscal policy, monetary policy, and structural reforms.

“Indeed, it has been a very comprehensive and collaborative work between the Government’s side and the IMF, and this has made the two-week mission very successful and fruitful”.