Coronavirus: Resetting Ghana’s economy will take 2-3 years – 1st Deputy BoG governor

• The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said the country's economy will take between two to three years to reset

• The Governor said the feat which will take a gradual process would require collaborative support and burden sharing

• Dr Opoku-Afari made the revelation when he gave an address at the 5th Ghana CEO Summit in Accra

The Bank of Ghana (BoG), has said that it will take between two to three years to reset Ghana’s economy back to pre-pandemic levels.

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and its associated restrictions, lockdowns and border closures, Ghana's economy experienced a slump which almost wiped of economic gains made three-years prior.

But the first Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Maxwell Afari believes a collective effort among key growth sectors of the economy will help rebuild the economy back to pre-COVID-19 levels.

“Resetting the economy back to resilience would be a gradual process over the next two or three years and would require our collective and collaborative support, and burden sharing, to “Build Back Better”, Dr Opoku-Afari said this at the 5th Ghana CEO Summit held in Accra on May 17, 2021.

He pointed the successful implementation of GH¢1 billion cedis Ghana CARES programme amongst other initiatives by government and the Bank of Ghana as efforts that will propel, revitalize, stabilize and transform the economy to create jobs and prosperity over a 3-year period.

The deputy governor also said his outfit remains committed to ensuring that the banking and other non-bank financial institutions remain resilient, inclusive, and supportive of resetting Ghana’s post-Covid economy.

The pandemic which first hit the country in March 2020 has left a huge void and shortfall in the government’s expenditure and revenue mobilisation efforts.

On the growth of the economy, Gross Domestic Product for Ghana slumped to 0.4 percent in 2020, the lowest in decades.

Inflation spiked from single to double digits and peaked at 11.4 percent in July 2020, driven mainly by food price pressures due to the lockdown measures, before easing to 10.4 percent in December 2020.