On Wednesday, August 17th, Ghana’s central bank decided to raise its key interest rate by 300 basis points to 22% at an emergency meeting amid hyperinflation.
Ghana’s rate hike comes just three weeks after keeping monetary policy unchanged at 19%, as well as the central bank’s statement at the time that it was waiting to assess a series of record rate increases.
The central bank meeting was scheduled for late September, but last Monday it announced the need for an emergency meeting
The Ghanaian currency continued its sharp decline since the monetary policy meeting in July, to fall more than 6% against the dollar on Wednesday alone, bringing the Ghanaian currency’s losses since the beginning of 2022 so far to about 39%.
Regarding inflation, the consumer price index rose to 31.7% year-on-year in July, the highest level since late 2003.
It should be noted that Ghana is in the early stages of negotiations on an agreement to obtain support with the International Monetary Fund, despite previous statements that it will not resort to the Fund for assistance.