Since the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, headline inflation declined from 13.0 percent in April 2017 to 12.6 percent in May and subsequently to 12.1 percent in June.
The Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson P. Asiama made this revelation at the launch of Cal Bank’s new brand image at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra on Wednesday, August 2, 2017.
“Since the beginning of the year, micro economic imbalances have always been unwinding accompanied by declined inflation and relative exchange rate stability. In the year to date, inflation has dropped significantly from an average above 18 percent since the first half of 2016 down to 12.1 percent in June this year” he stated.
According to him, the decline has steadily trended downwards mainly due to policy tightness, relative stability in the exchange rate and some favourable base drift effects.
Dr. Asiama further indicated that the cedi in July 2017 depreciated to 3.9 percent which brought positive results.
“In the year to July 2017 this year, the cedi has depreciated by 3.9% barely the same as it did within the same period last year. Alongside these positive trends, the current account turned surplus over the first quarter on the back of a higher export receipt from increased production in gold, crude oil, and cocoa. The country’s reserve build-up also increased by almost 1bn from the end of December last year to 5.9bn in June this year. And this translates into about 3.4 months of import cover. In addition, the fiscal deficit over the 5 months of 2017 was broadly within the program target suggesting a return to the part of consolidation” he noted.
He also indicated the monetary policy rate has been lowered by 450 basis points to 21 percent.
