Business confidence back to pre-coronavirus levels – BoG survey

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) says its latest business confidence survey has shown significant improvement in business sentiments, driven by improved prospects and continuous recovery in demand for goods and services.

The central bank’s business confidence index conducted December 2020, which gauges the level of optimism among business managers, improved from 94.4 in October to 101.1 in December.

In a press statement issued after the MPC meeting, the press on Movernor Ernest Addison noted that confidence has reached pre-lockdown levels, for the first time, as businesses met short-term company targets and expressed positive sentiments about growth prospects.

According to the BoG, consumer confidence has also risen above pre-lockdown levels, supported by rebounding economic activity following the gradual relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.

However, it remains unclear how the confidence of both the business sector and consumers would turn out, in the face of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, after contracting in March–May, the BoG’s real Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) recorded an annual growth of 11.9 percent in November compared with 3.4 percent a year ago.

The central bank noted that the key drivers of economic activity during the period were construction, port activity, imports, manufacturing, and credit to the private sector.

However, Dr. Addison expressed the renewed threat from the second-wave of the pandemic has again heightened uncertainty and could hamper the recovery process in the near-term.