Professor Peter Quartey, economist and Executive Director of ISSER
The Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER) has called for the harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies to drive Ghana’s macroeconomic stability.
The Institute said economic policies and actions should be harmonized to stabilize prices, the exchange rate, and support banks in reducing the cost of credit to the private sector.
The Institute gave the advice in its mid-year budget review, which critically assessed the mid-year budget presented by the Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, to Parliament.
It advised the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and fiscal authorities to strengthen their partnerships and institutional coordination with global and regional financial institutions and the private sector to unlock resources to catalyze and sustain economic recovery.
It urged the Central Bank and the fiscal authorities to ensure that the Development Bank of Ghana provided a cheaper source of funding to the agricultural and light manufacturing sectors to support higher value addition.
This, according to the Institute, will significantly enhance local industry’s ability to produce import substitutes and improve export competitiveness.
The ISSER advised the government to assess the size of the informal forex market and institute efforts to reduce its dominance and activities that drive exchange rate instability.
Additionally, the Institute advised the BOG to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to clamp down on unregistered and unregulated businesses.
