by Ekow Dontoh, Moses Mozart Dzawu mmdzawu & Thembisile Dzonzi
Inflation slowed to 15.8% in October from 17.2% in September
Ghanaians scheduled to vote in general elections on Dec. 7
Ghana’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than five years after inflation slowed to the lowest rate since 2014.
The Bank of Ghana cut the rate by 50 basis points to 25.5 percent, Governor Abdul Nashiru Issahaku told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra.
Five of the six economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast the rate would be reduced and one said it would be kept unchanged at 26 percent.
“The fact that it is a very small move indicates that they are still on the path of keeping monetary policy really tight,” Celeste Fauconnier, an analyst at Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank Ltd. who forecast a 100 basis points cut, said by phone.
“We can now start to see this as the start of the cutting cycle.”. . .
To read the full piece from Bloomberg, click here.