The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining price stability and strengthening economic resilience as Ghana records significant improvements in inflation, interest rates, foreign reserves and overall macroeconomic performance.
Delivering the keynote address at The Money Summit 2026 in Accra on Tuesday, Second Deputy Governor Mrs. Matilda Asante-Asiedu said the country had achieved substantial economic stabilization over the past two years but cautioned that sustaining those gains would require continued discipline and vigilance.
According to her, headline inflation declined from 23.8 percent at the end of 2024 to about 3.4 percent by April 2026, while food inflation dropped from nearly 28 percent to just above 2 percent over the same period.
The sharp decline in inflation has enabled the central bank to ease monetary policy, resulting in lower borrowing costs for businesses and households. The Monetary Policy Rate has fallen from 27 percent to 14 percent, while the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill rate has declined from 28 percent to below 5 percent. Average lending rates have also dropped from above 30 percent to around 16 percent.
“For every business, this is the difference between credit that strangles and credit that fosters growth,” Mrs. Asante-Asiedu stated.
She noted that Ghana’s external position had also improved significantly, with Gross International Reserves increasing from approximately US$9 billion to more than US$14 billion, supported largely by strong gold export earnings.
The Deputy Governor attributed the economic recovery to prudent fiscal and monetary policies, improved reserve accumulation, and strong institutional commitment to reform.
She also highlighted Ghana’s transition from the International Monetary Fund’s Extended Credit Facility programme to a Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI), describing the move as a shift from external financing support to a framework focused on policy discipline and reform monitoring.
“The PCI engagement is no longer about borrowing; it is about monitoring our own reforms. Our credibility will now rest entirely on the quality and consistency of our own policies,” she said.
Addressing the summit’s theme, “Building Trust, Capital, and Stability for Ghana’s Economic Future,” Mrs. Asante-Asiedu described trust, capital and stability as interconnected pillars essential for sustainable economic growth.
She explained that trust lowers risk perceptions and borrowing costs, while capital enables businesses to expand and create jobs. Stability, she added, provides the foundation upon which both trust and investment can flourish.
Despite recent gains, she noted that private sector credit remains relatively low at less than 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), underscoring the need to deepen financial intermediation and improve access to credit for businesses and farmers.
To preserve stability, the Bank of Ghana outlined several strategic priorities, including maintaining low inflation, strengthening foreign exchange reserves, ensuring orderly currency market operations, reducing non-performing loans and mobilising long-term domestic capital for productive investment.
Mrs. Asante-Asiedu disclosed that the central bank aims to build reserves to cover at least six months of imports while pursuing the Ghana Gold Reserve Accumulation Programme (GANRAP), which targets reserve levels equivalent to 15 months of import cover over the medium term.
She also urged market participants to avoid speculative foreign exchange practices, noting that the cedi’s resilience in recent months demonstrated the strength of Ghana’s economic fundamentals.
“We urge all market actors to transact based on genuine need and not fear. That is how we keep the cedi stable together,” she said.
The Deputy Governor further revealed that the Bank of Ghana is working with commercial banks to reduce non-performing loans to 15 percent by the end of 2026 and 10 percent by 2027, a move expected to free up additional credit for productive sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and small businesses.
Concluding her address, Mrs. Asante-Asiedu stressed that sustaining economic stability was a shared responsibility requiring collaboration between government, regulators, financial institutions, businesses and citizens.
“We have secured stability. Our charge now is to sustain it, and that is not the Bank of Ghana’s burden to carry alone,” she said.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
