BoG brings Policy rate down to 25.5%

With two weeks to elections, the Bank of Ghana has reduced its policy rate from 26 per cent to 25.5 per cent.

A statement from the Monetary Policy Committee after its 73rd regular meeting Monday, November 21, said the overall assessment of the economic prospect looked positive.

The statement further said the reduction of the policy rate to 50 points basis is because “business and consumer confidence surveys both show improved business and consumer sentiments, though with a marginal uptick in inflation expectation.”

This is the first change in the rate in several months after it was maintained at 26 per cent four times in a row.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana’s summary of Economic and Financial Data revealed Ghana’s total public debt increased to GH¢112.4 billion as at September 2016 which translates into about 67.4 percent of GDP.

The data showed that between January and September of this year alone, more than GH¢13 billion was added to the total public debt stock which stood at GH¢98.8 billion in January.

The growing public debt stock is once again nudging the country back to the 70 percent of GDP unsustainable debt threshold.

Source:otecfm102.9,Kumasi;story by Kwame Owusu Achiaw.