Kofi Ahovi

  Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages has maintained and deepened its dominance over non-food inflation for the second month running. Figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased from 17.4 per cent in February to 22.4 per cent in March. This was higher than 17 per cent recorded by the non-food sector. On a month on month basis, the difference between food inflation and non-food inflation was relatively lower as food inflation stood at 4.5 per cent relative to 3.7 per cent for non-food. Announcing the March figures, Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, said the economy also witnessed a reversal of the dominance of housing, water, electricity and gas, as the transport sector recorded the highest rate of inflation of 27.6 per cent. The contribution of food and non-alcoholic beverages on overall inflation increased by two per cent and it must be recorded that the contribution of t...

 Ghana’s economy expanded at a faster rate last year than the government and international bodies had anticipated. The economy grew by 5.4 per cent in 2021 above the government’s forecast of five per cent. Last year’s growth rate is also healthier than 0.5 per cent revised growth rate recorded in 2020, data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has showed. The data indicated that the economy is now worth GH₵459.13 billion compared to 2020 when it was valued at GH₵391.94 billion. The higher-than-projected growth rate for last year strengthens hopes that the country is on its way to full recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year’s growth rate was driven by strong growth in the services and agricultural sectors, the data that was released today, Wednesday said. It showed further that the industry sector contracted on the back of a 12.1 per cent contraction suffered by the mining and quarrying subsectors. The government had projected to grow the economy by five p...

 Global growth is projected to slow from an estimated 6.1 per cent in 2021 to 3.6 per cent in 2022 and 2023. This is 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points lower for 2022 and 2023 than projected in January. Beyond 2023, global growth is forecast to decline to about 3.3 per cent over the medium term according to the World Economic Outlook report released at the start of this year’s World Bank — International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings which began yesterday in Washington DC, United States of America. Dubbed “War sets back global recovery” it said the “War-induced commodity price increases and broadening price pressures have led to 2022 inflation projections of 5.7 per cent in advanced economies and 8.7 per cent in emerging market and developing economies—1.8 and 2.8 percentage points higher than projected last January.” Ghana’s situation Since the war began in Ukraine, the country has been witnessing a worsening economic situation. Fuel prices at the pumps have hit record highs with ...

  Bank of Ghana has announced the appointment by its Board of Directors, of Professor Festus Ebo Turkson, as an external member of the Bank of Ghana Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), pursuant to section 27(3)(E) of the Bank of Ghana 2002 (Act 612) as amended by the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 918). Professor Turkson is a Development Economist with specialization in macro economics and finance, monetary and financial economics, small and medium enterprises development, industrial policy, applied micro econometrics and international trade policy and finance. He is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Ghana with an economics research, teaching and consultancy career spanning over 20 years. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Nottingham and is a member of the Leverhulme Centre for Research on Globalization and Economic Policy of the School of Economics of the Nottingham Universi He is also a member of many years’ standing of the African ...

  Ghana’s leading payments, quick commerce, and messaging technology company, Hubtel, has received a full and final license from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to operate as a Payment Service Provider (Enhanced). In September 2019, the Bank of Ghana, in a notice to banks and non-bank financial institutions, stated the need for institutions such as financial technology companies to “provide the legal and regulatory framework for the orderly development of payment systems in Ghana.”  Hubtel applied to be licensed among the pioneering companies to fill this emerging space and was granted initial approval to operate as an enhance payment service provider by the Bank of Ghana in August 2020. According to press release from Hubtel copied to BusinessweekGhana , The issuance of the final license is significant as it confirms that Hubtel’s payment processing operations are compliant with the standards of the central bank of Ghana, and thus permits it to continue to provide enhanced payment se...

 A Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has said the government will continue to explore comprehensive and viable options to cater for the Ghana’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables. He explained that the country was already putting in place measures that would ensure seamless energy transition, as Ghana joins in the race for net zero carbon emission. He said key of these measures was the setting up of a National Energy Transition Committee (NETC) with the aim of developing a national energy transition policy. Speaking to the media at the launch of the 2019 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) reports in Accra on April 14, 2022, Dr. Adam insisted that Ghana would transition from fossil fuels at its own pace. The reports The reports are Mining and Oil/Gas EITI published by the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) of the GHEITI. The MSG is a tripartite body made up of the government, industry and civil society, with responsibility of steering th...

  The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has been explaining why it said Empire Cement Ghana Limited was not complying with the applicable legislation and national standards. In a letter dated March 31, 2022, signed by the Director-General of the GSA, Prof Alex Dodoo and addressed to the Managing Director of Empire, the GSA said market surveillance activities in the Greater Accra Region picked up samples of Empire Cement product(s) in the market. It said the products were procured for laboratory analysis in accordance with applicable legislation and national standards and preliminary checks on the samples indicated that Empire Cement have been using the Certification Mark provided for in LI 662 (as amended by LI 664) without a licence and certificate from the GSA. This, the GSA said constituted an offence and was in blatant contravention of the applicable legislation. It said that misleads consumers and the public that the product has been certified as conforming to the applicabl...