The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana announced Wednesday it will maintain its policy rate, the benchmark rate which informs rates quoted by commercial banks at 22 percent.
The bank had in May increased the rate by 100 basis points to 22 percent, compared with the previous 21 percent in a bid to combat rising inflation and worsening currency depreciation.
According to Henry Kofi Wampah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, domestic growth conditions remained vulnerable, given the on-going fiscal consolidation and the impact of the energy crisis.
He said recent developments in the external environment, including volatile commodity prices, dampening global growth prospects, the anticipated change in US monetary policy stance and developments in Greece.
However, he said the tight monetary policy stance, with tight liquidity conditions in the banking sector improving the inflation outlook.
On the recent firming up of the cedi against major trading currencies in the Foreign Exchange Market, Wampah said the bank would continue to intervene in the market to meet the needs for FX.
“The stock of gross foreign assets at the end of June 2015 was 4.5 billion dollars, enough to finance 2.9 months of imports of goods and services.
“Going forward, the anticipated inflows of more than 4.0 billion dollars from the Eurobond issue, syndicated cocoa financing as well as other programmed inflows in the second half of the year will provide a strong buffer and help sustain stability in the foreign exchange markets,” Wampah stated. Enditem
