Inflation likely to peak by 1st quarter 2023 – BoG

The Bank of Ghana has signaled that inflation is likely to peak in the first quarter of 2023.

This was disclosed by the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ernest Addison, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting for November 2022, which announced an increase in the policy rate to 27%.

The BoG has also projected inflation for 2023 to end at around 25%, a figure contrary to the 18.9% the government projects in its 2023 budget.

"The inflation forecast shows that in the outlook, inflation will likely peak in the first quarter of 2023 and settle at around 25% by the end of 2023," Dr. Addison told the press.

Ghana's inflation rate currently stands at 40.4 percent for the month of October 2022. With month-on-month inflation between September and October 2022 being 2.7%. This rate is mainly due to continuous increases in the prices of food, housing, transportation, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, among others.

Food and non-food inflation rose to hit 43.7 percent and 37.8 percent, respectively.

While inflation for locally produced items was 39.1%, it was 43.7% for imported items.

This announcement by the BoG, however, means that inflation is expected to rise till 1st Quarter of next year.

The Central Bank, however, noted that additional pressures from the proposed increase in VAT and continuous exchange rate increases are possible risks to this forecast.