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Madam Elsie Addo Awadzi, the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) says that a boost in Africa's long-term competitiveness on the global market will depend on financing for robust macro-economic recovery and medium to long term investment. However, financing, she said, had remained a big challenge as the estimated financing gap for Africa was about $285 billion in additional funding that would be required from 2021 to 2025 to effectively respond to the effect of the pandemic.

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A research by the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has shown that several cocoa farms in the Western, Ashanti and Eastern regions have been lost to illegal mining activities. The research found that out of the over 20,000-acre cocoa farms in the selected regions, more than 19,000 acres have been devastated by galamsey.

Ghana tax revenue to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is expected to increase in 2022 to 16.5%, from 14.7% in 2021, the International Monetary Fund’s April 2022 Fiscal Monitor has revealed. This will be a vast improvement compared to the rates registered during the last 10 years. In 2023 and 2024, the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio will however fall to 16% and 16.2% respectively.

Ghana’s economy expanded by 5.4% in 2021, far higher than the 0.4% recorded in the year 2020, a period that COVID-19 pandemic had severely hit the global economy. Without oil, the economy recorded a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 6.9%

The World Bank has affirmed its forecast of 5.5% expansion of the Ghanaian economy in 2022, higher than Sub Saharan Africa average of 3.6%.

According to its latest Africa Pulse Report, ahead of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Spring Meetings, the Bretton Wood institution however expressed worry about the country’s debt sustainability problems, which it described could erode gains going forward.

London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is expecting the cedi’s end of year rate against the dollar to hit ¢7.87 as captured in its April 13, 2022, assessment of the Ghanaian economy. The expected depreciation of the local currency against the dollar for the next eight months of this year, according to the EIU, will be influenced by the import structure of the economy and some actions of the offshore investors in Ghana’s bonds.

The Bank of Ghana’s 2021 Audited Financial Statement has revealed that it spent ¢179 million to print more cedis. This is, however, far lower than the ¢347.8 million used in 2020. According to the statement, ¢25.26 billion of cash was in circulation in 2021, compared with ¢23.3 billion in 2020.

Business sentiment will remain fragile in the coming months, whilst private consumption is expected to decelerate this year, largely due to the expected implementation of the 1.5% Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy), Fitch Solutions has disclosed in its latest Sub Saharan Africa update. According to the research arm of ratings agency, Fitch, Ghana’s Purchasing Manager’s Index – which determines the direction of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors – declined for the first time in seven months due to the rising prices of some goods and services.

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has advised the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation to stop giving out loans and grants to government and government institutions, until it recovers several millions of credit that has gone bad. This is one of the recommendations in the 2021 Annual Report on Management of Petroleum Revenue in Ghana, by the statutory body.