‘Economic growth to continue in 2018’ - BoG Governor

The Central Bank has indicated that improvements in the country’s economic fundamentals as experienced in 2017 would continue in 2018.

Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, made this known to journalists on Monday in Accra.

He also announced the policy rate of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank.

According to him, fiscal consolidation process remained on track in 2017, and economic activity picked up, with private sector credit growth recovering, among others.

Such trends are expected to continue in 2018, Dr Addison told the media, reiterating that domestically, economic activity has been fairly robust and the momentum is expected to be sustained over the medium term supported by continued favorable external financing conditions.

“In sum, the committee noted the increased pace of global growth, which is expected to continue in 2018, and the relatively subdued global inflation, supporting broad-based accommodative monetary policy stance across the major advanced economies,” he indicated.

The Governor revealed that “this has had a moderating effect on global financing conditions with positive implications for emerging and frontier markets, including Ghana.”

The country’s balance of payments, he said, had performed strongly, with a trade surplus and favourable outturn in the current account, and a higher than programmed reserve build-up providing enough buffer against potential external vulnerabilities.

“Clearly, these developments are reflecting in increased confidence at home and also abroad with external partners – evident in the tightening of interest rate spreads on Ghana’s sovereign bond instruments on international capital markets,” Dr Addison explained.