The rising cost of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels (28.7%) as well as Transport (17.4%) pushed the rate of inflation for January 2022 to 13.9%, data from the Ghana Statistical Service has revealed. If the trend continues, lending rates as well as cost of living will go up further.

An African Union-backed panel has urged Moody’s Investors Service to review an appeal by government against the rating agency’s downgrade of the country’s credit rating.

Economist and Political Risk Analyst, Dr. Theo Acheampong has stated that government’s decision to challenge Fitch and Moody’s downgrade ratings is a step in the right direction. This is because, in his view, there is, “African Premium or African sort of bias in the way the ratings are done.”

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has questioned why government is hesitant about going to the International Monetary Fund, to seek economic assistance. “So why is government afraid of going back to the IMF? Is it because of the restrictions on how much they can blow on luxurious jets, on family and friends and other wasteful expenditures? The revelations of our true economic crisis? Or what?”, he wrote on Twitter.

Currency outside banks dropped significantly in the last quarter of last year, signaling low money in circulation during the period, the Summary of Economic and Financial Data of the Bank of Ghana has revealed. This may have affected aggregate supply and demand during the last quarter of 2021 and subsequently the rate of economic growth.

Ghana’s indigenous bank, Agricultural Development Bank, continued its strong performance in 2021, as it registered a 78% year-on-year growth in profit to ¢116.9 million, its 2021 Unaudited Financial Statement has revealed. The significant growth in net interest income and net fees and commission were the major drivers of the bottom-line, whilst cost was managed within acceptable limits.s

Banks in Ghana recorded ¢7.4 billion profit before tax in 2021, the Bank of Ghana has said.

This is compared with ¢6.1 billion recorded in 2020. According to the Monetary Policy Committee report, net interest income grew by 14.5% to ¢12.8 billion, lower than the growth of 20.9% recorded a year ago. This is partly due to declining in interest rates.s

Fuel prices are expected to go up by 25 pesewas per litre from February 1, if the suspended Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levies (PSRL) is reintroduced, the Institute of Energy Security (IES) has disclosed.

Players in the rice industry, including the Rice Millers and Peasant Farmers Associations, are warning that the local rice industry may collapse due to the suspension of implementing the reversal of the benchmark value discount policy. The groups say importers currently benefit from lower import duties made possible by the 15% benchmark discount policy, which has led to the flooding of the Ghanaian market with cheap imported rice.

The Hospitality Sector maintained its position as the best ranked sector in customer services in the country in 2021 by the Ghana Customer Service Index report. The sector recorded a score of 73.16%, a marginal decline from 2020.