The Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, opened the 129th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings today, 16 March 2026. Reflecting on recent economic developments, he noted that Ghana’s macroeconomic conditions are improving. “Headline inflation dropped to 3.3% in February, marking our 14th consecutive month of decline. We are now below our medium-term target band,” he said. The Governor added that the economy is gaining momentum: “These indicators show Ghana’s economy is stabilizing faster than expected.”
However, Dr. Asiama cautioned that global risks persist. “The Middle East conflict is disrupting energy and shipping routes, boosting oil price volatility and creating uncertainty around global inflation.” He stressed that policymakers must balance progress with caution.
The MPC meeting will assess recent economic developments and set the monetary policy stance going forward.
According to him, the real economy is also showing stronger momentum as the Composite Index of Economic Activity grew by 8.4 percent year-on-year at the start of 2026, supported by stronger bank credit, industrial output, trade activity, and household consumption. Consumer and business confidence rose in February 2026, supported by easing inflation.
These indicators point to an economy stabilizing more rapidly than many had expected. But the external environment has evolved significantly since our last meeting in January.
“The escalation of conflict in the Middle East has disrupted key energy and shipping corridors, increased volatility in global oil markets, and introduced new uncertainty into the trajectory of global inflation. For Ghana, the spillover channels are clear. Sustained oil price increases raise the risk of imported inflation, which could necessitate policy tightening with implications for financial conditions”.
Against this backdrop, has tasked the Committee to pay attention to three significant areas as stated below:
First, the geopolitical risk channel and its implications for policy calibration. The external shock we face today is different from the conditions we confronted in January. Back then, the principal risk was complacency in the face of success. Today, there is a live external threat to the disinflation trajectory. Whatever decision the Committee takes, our communication must reflect both the progress achieved and the risks that remain.
Second, the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme. Since our last meeting, the Government has announced Ghana Accelerated National 3 Reserve Accumulation Programme (GANRAP), which seeks to raise international reserves to 15 months of import cover by 2028, from the current level of around 5.8 months. Strengthening external buffers is an important element of macroeconomic resilience. At the same time, initiatives of this scale raise questions regarding liquidity conditions, the Bank’s balance sheet, and the interaction between reserve accumulation and monetary policy operations.
Third, the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. The banking sector remains sound, profitable, and well-capitalised, with asset quality improving meaningfully over the past year. This matters not only for financial stability, but also for the effectiveness of monetary policy, the extent to which changes in the policy rate translate into the credit conditions experienced by households and businesses. Understanding the factors constraining credit expansion, whether on the supply or demand side, will therefore be important in assessing the real economy impact of any policy decisions taken today.
