The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana held its 79th meeting in November 2017 and after assessing macroeconomic developments and the outlook decided to lower the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 100 basis points to 20 percent.
This leads to a 550 basis points cumulative decline in the policy rate since the beginning of the year. In arriving at the decision, the Committee factored in global and domestic economic conditions.
On the global front, the Committee observed that growth had continued to strengthen broadening beyond advanced economies to include large emerging market economies, while in Sub-Saharan Africa was also slowly recovery. The momentum has been largely sustained by increased demand and recovery in investments and trade.
The improved global growth conditions notwithstanding, inflation remained subdued. Although the US Fed had started trimming its balance sheet with the possibility of rate increases in December and in 2018, monetary policy was broadly accommodative in most advanced economies.
These favourable external conditions impacted positively on the domestic economy through the financing and trade channels.
