Amid crippling inflation, the Central Bank of Ghana, CBG, has delivered its biggest rate hike ever following a 300 basis point increase to 22 per cent at an emergency meeting to address the economy’s rapid deterioration.
This development came three weeks after its monetary policy rate remained unchanged at 19% saying, it was pausing to observe the impact of a series of record-breaking hikes.
The apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Accra.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s cedi currency has continued its steep decline since the July monetary policy meeting, losing more than 6% against the dollar on Wednesday alone, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. That brought total losses for 2022 to close to 39%.
And consumer inflation has risen further to 31.7% annually in July, its highest since late 2003, and the government’s top statistician warned it was not possible to say whether inflation had peaked.
The conditions, however, have sparked street demonstrations against economic hardship. Last month, hundreds of demonstrators in Ghana’s capital Accra protested against fuel price hikes, a tax on electronic payments and other levies.
