Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) stated that, Ghana’s economic outlook is encouraging. However, he observed that it needs a careful monitoring.
According to, the Deputy Governor, “In the outlook, the signs of recovery are encouraging and would require careful monitoring and, where necessary, continuous comprehensive macroeconomic policies including defining a feasible fiscal adjustment path in the medium term to ensure fiscal and debt sustainability to anchor macroeconomic stability.”
Meanwhile, he asserted that the mix of policies implemented by the central bank have helped to moderate the impact of the pandemic on the economy and contributed significantly to a faster pace of economic recovery than anticipated.
However, he noted that Ghana managed to record a positive growth in 2020 unlike many others that slipped into negative growth rates.
Amidst the pandemic and surge in inflation, he said, “the central bank has successfully steered inflation back into the target band, a process that was significantly helped by the extraordinary stability in the foreign exchange market in an election year while foreign exchange reserves level is at a record high.”
He further stated that the Bank of Ghana will continue to implement policies that will ensure that the post economic recovery takes shape.
“A key issue going forward relates to the timing of withdrawal of policy support. This would need to be carefully done so as not to jeopardise the recovery process and the Bank will continue to monitor development and take appropriate decision. A careful balancing act between unwinding the policy support and would be needed by policy makers to ensure that stability in a post-pandemic environment is guaranteed.”
Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari
Meanwhile, drawing from the lessons learnt from the pandemic, he noted that the pandemic has helped boost the electronic payment system.
“An important lesson from the pandemic is that it has quickened the drive towards a cash-lite economy and this is likely to shape monetary policies going forward. The widespread use of mobile money was given an added boost when the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) introduced the national Quick Response (QR) Code payment solution last year to simplify merchant payments and reduce the use of cash. The QR Code has since been made available to banks and payment service providers, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises to enhance business transactions.
“Leveraging on financial innovations, the Bank of Ghana has also initiated processes for a pilot central bank digital currency to further move the economy towards a cash-lite environment.
“We anticipate that the Bank’s CBDC project would further advance financial inclusion, promote the efficiency and stability of the payment system, and foster competition in the financial sector.”
He concluded that, “as regulators, we believe that under the current inflation targeting regime, transparency is crucial in fostering credibility of the central bank’s policies. Going forward, as financial journalists, perhaps more than any time in the past, you will be expected to play a key role in disseminating our policies to support the recovery process; and, how well this is done will tend to engender confidence in the financial markets and propagation of monetary policy impulses.”
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