[ 2021-02-01 ]

Ghana's central bank on Monday kept its main interest rate unchanged at 14.5%
ACCRA , Feb 1 (Reuters) - Ghana's central bank on
Monday kept its main interest rate unchanged at
14.5%, Governor Ernest Addison said in a
statement.

The bank said that although inflation had been on
a steady decline in the early months of the fourth
quarter of 2020, it rose to 10.4 percent outside
its target range of 8%, plus or minus 2 percentage
points.

"However, the Bank projects headline inflation to
return to target in the second quarter of 2021.
Risks to inflation in the near-term are broadly
contained," Addison said.

"Under the circumstances, and given the balance of
risks to inflation and growth, the (Monetary
Policy) Committee decided to keep the policy rate
at 14.5 percent," he said.

Addison said the global resurgence in coronavirus
infections had increased uncertainty in the
outlook, posing significant risks to the pace of
recovery in the near-term.

He added that the prospects of a sharp fiscal
correction in Ghana in 2021 look unlikely amid the
second wave of the pandemic which will require
additional spending to provide testing and
vaccines.

Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday
introduced new measures to curb the spread of the
disease which has infected over 63,000 people and
caused 416 deaths in the West African nation.

Akufo-Addo said Ghana will procure 17.6 million
doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June with
the first doses arriving in March.

(Reporting by Christian Akorlie, Editing by Bate
Felix and Ed Osmond)

Source - Reuters

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