Browsing: MPC

The seven member of the Monetary Policy Committee, (MPC), of Bank of Ghana and chaired by the governor, Dr Ernest…

The Federal Reserve last week increased the benchmark rate to its highest in 14 years. The bank hopes pushing up borrowing costs will cool the economy and bring down price inflation.

The Monetary Policy Committee, (MPC) will from this week begin to review the health of the economy and also announce a new policy rate for the next couple of months. But there strong indication that the BoG would hike the policy rate further in attempt to anchor inflation.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) during its press conference indicated that, it observed that execution of the budget for the first quarter was broadly in line with targets although there was a minor deviation in the deficit target, stemming largely from low revenue receipts.

The improvement in export earnings was attributed to crude oil and non-traditional exports. Crude oil export receipts recorded significant growth of 61.0 per cent to US$1.9 billion, due to price effects, while gold exports improved by 3.6 per cent, also supported by price effects.

This has therefore lay bare the inflation targeting regime of the central bank, which it uses to control economy in terms of currency exchange rate and rate of economic growth, to criticisms by some economists as to whether it real works the magic or it is a ‘try your luck’ theory.

The MPC need to decide on the current policy rate, which stands at 17%. The policy rate, which influences interest rates for individuals and businesses, is also used as a tool to curb inflation in the country.

Some economists have predicted that, the MPC bimonthly review of the economy will ‘sweat’ to arrive at policy recommendations that balance its mandate to tame the unprecedented inflation spike, manage liquidity issues, and growing the economy. 

The senior economist with databank indicated that, checks from some forex bureaus and commercial banks show that the cedi is gaining marginal strength against the dollar as at the time of interview, last week, as the local currency was trading averagely at GH¢7.84 to the dollar on the retail market, compared to about ¢8.06 couple of days before the Central bank’s announcement last week. However, the Bank of Ghana pegs the cedi to the dollar at ¢7.112 (mid-rate).