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2 weeks ago | 
bloomberg.com | Ekow Dontoh |Moses Mozart Dzawu
Ghana is the world’s second-biggest cocoa supplier. (Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s economy expanded at the fastest pace since the third quarter of last year after its gold and cocoa industries exited contractions. Gross domestic product grew an annual 5.3% in the three months through March, compared with 3.6% in the prior quarter, Government Statistician Alhassan Iddrisu told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday.
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3 weeks ago | 
bloomberg.com | Moses Mozart Dzawu |Ekow Dontoh
A vendor counts cedi banknotes at the Makola market in Accra. (Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s inflation rate dropped to the lowest level in more than three years, as the country’s world-beating currency helped reduce the cost of imports. Inflation slowed for a fifth straight month to 18.4% in May, compared with 21.2% in the previous month, Government Statistician Alhassan Iddrisu told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday. Prices rose 0.7% in the month, he said.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Ekow Dontoh |Moses Mozart Dzawu
A customer makes a purchase at the Makola market in Accra, Ghana. (Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s central bank kept its key interest rate on hold to maintain downward pressure on inflation, which is expected to get a boost from the West African nation’s world-beating currency. The monetary policy committee kept the policy rate at 28%, Governor Johnson Asiama told reporters on Friday in the capital, Accra. All three economists in a Bloomberg survey correctly predicted the decision.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Ekow Dontoh
Johnson Asiama Photographer: Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images(Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s central bank is set to continue its tight monetary policy stance to hasten the pace of disinflation toward its year-end target. Governor Johnson Asiama will probably maintain the key interest rate at 28% when he delivers the monetary policy committee’s decision shortly after 3 p.m. Accra time on Friday, according to economists polled by Bloomberg.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Ekow Dontoh
A person displays balls of unrefined gold Photographer: Ekow Dontoh/Bloomberg(Bloomberg) -- Ghana expects to rake in $12 billion a year from small-scale gold production if output doubles as planned. Gold exports from the country have surged as international prices have soared, and much of that expansion is down to small-mine and artisanal production.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Matthew Hill |Ekow Dontoh
Minister of Finance Cassiel Ato Forson(Bloomberg) -- Ghana, emerging from a bruising debt restructuring process, faces a dispute with African Export-Import Bank, one of its biggest commercial creditors, over whether it should take losses on a $768.4 million liability. The finance ministry says the debt must be treated comparably to others it’s restructured, from bilateral loans with China to $13 billion in eurobonds.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Grace Gitau |Ekow Dontoh |Baudelaire Mieu
Cocoa regulators in the world’s top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana are holding back bean sales for next season in the hope of higher prices, a risky bet that’s adding to liquidity woes in the futures market. Forward sales by the two West African nations, which together account for about half of global cocoa production, have lagged their usual pace as the regulators favor selling closer to the start of the season and more spot deals, according to people familiar with the matter.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Jennifer Zabasajja |Kamailoudini Tagba |Ekow Dontoh
John Mahama(Bloomberg) -- Ghana is encouraging investors to get the country’s crude out of the ground to avoid the assets from getting stranded amid a global decarbonization push. The government is ready to roll out the “red carpet” to any investor prepared to drill and pump crude, President John Mahama said at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, on Tuesday. “Oil is in transition and so anybody who has any assets should be pumping like there’s no tomorrow,” he said.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Ekow Dontoh
Cocoa pods grow on a farm ahead of the harvest in Kwabeng, Ghana. (Bloomberg) -- Ghana plans to start next season’s cocoa harvest in August, two months ahead of schedule, to provide early cash to farmers and curb hoarding and smuggling of the beans. The country’s industry regulator, the Ghana Cocoa Board, will also announce increased farmgate prices to ensure growers are paid early, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information.
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1 month ago | 
bloomberg.com | Ekow Dontoh |Moses Mozart Dzawu
Ghana cedi banknotes. (Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s inflation rate fell to an eight-month low in April as the West African nation’s world-beating currency helped rein in import costs. Consumer prices rose 21.2% in April, compared with 22.4% the month before, Government Statistician Alhassan Iddrisu told reporters in the capital, Accra, on Wednesday. Prices rose 0.8% in the month. Non-food price growth decelerated to 17.9% from 18.7%, as a rally in the cedi reduced the cost of imports.
