Ghana has the 3rd Highest Policy Rate on the African Continent, World Bank Says
Ghana has been ranked the third country in Sub-Saharan Africa with the highest policy rate, according to the World Bank’s October 2025 Africa Pulse report — despite recent monetary easing by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The ranking comes even after a cumulative 7.5 percentage point cut in Ghana’s benchmark rate since January 2025. The BoG has attributed the reductions to a sharp decline in inflation, which has now eased into the single-digit range for the first time in over three years.
Nigeria tops the list with the highest policy rate in the region at 27%, followed by Malawi at 26%, while Botswana maintains the lowest policy rate at 1.9%.
The World Bank noted that several central banks across the region have begun easing monetary policy in response to moderating inflationary pressures. “Most of the region’s central banks have either cut interest rates (Kenya, Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa) or paused their contractionary monetary policy for several months (Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda),” the report stated.
It added, however, that “other central banks in the region have recently raised rates due to a slight resurgence of inflation this year, namely Mauritius and Zambia.”
The Bank warned that potential headwinds — including global economic uncertainty, sharp commodity price fluctuations, restrictive trade policies, and regional political instability — could renew inflationary pressures and delay the normalization of monetary policy.
In September 2025, the BoG’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut its policy rate by 350 basis points to 21.5%, marking the lowest level since October 2022. The central bank cited sustained disinflation, robust economic growth, and stronger external buffers as justification for the decision.
