Ghana Reference Rate: Year-to-date rise in benchmark interest rate hits 90.6%
Year-to-date rise in the Ghana Reference Rate – the country’s benchmark interest rate – has hit 90.61% according to a report by Nimed Capital.
Currently, the Ghana Reference Rate (GRR) is pegged at 26.5% up from the 13.9% recorded at the beginning of the year.
The year-to-date rise in the GRR is primarily driven by hikes in the Central Bank’s monetary policy rate.
The rise in the GRR has resulted in higher interest rates charged on loans given to the private sector, ultimately contributing to high cost of doing business by the private sector.
The Central Bank has since November last year, hiked its policy rate by some 850 basis points (8.5%) in a bid to rein in rising inflation.
The Central Bank’s attempts to curb rising inflation has failed as national headline inflation has hit a 21 year record high of 33.9%.
According to Nimed Capital, inflation, since the commencement of the year – 2022 – has surged by 143.88%.
This is the 15th straight month the country’s headline inflation has risen, it is also the 12th straight month the inflation rate has surpassed the upper limit of the Central Bank’s target band of 10%.
Meanwhile, market activities on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the week, Nimed Capital posits, was characterized by huge volumes of transactions in MTNGH, CAL, SOGHGE, EGL and SIC among others with aggressive bargains.
The stock market as a result closed with three (3) advancers and seven (7) decliners, thereby cutting the benchmark composite index down by 8.49 points, bringing its index-point total to 2,499.90 (Year to Date: -10.38%).
The Financial Index equally lost 5.52 points to 2,073.33 index points overall (YTD change: -3.65%). In all, a total volume of 11.67 million shares with an estimated value of GH¢12.08 million were traded in twenty-four (24) equities.
Nimed Financial Market Review (16.09.2022) by Fuaad Dodoo on Scribd
