Accra Battles with Rising Inflation

Ghana needs to reduce taxes on some imports and take long-term supply-side measures as interest rates alone are no longer capable of controlling inflation, James Dzansi, an economist at the International Growth Centre in Accra, tells The Africa Report. Ghana this week raised its policy rate by 200 basis points to 19% in a bid to rein in spiralling prices. Consumer price inflation in April reached an 18-year high of 23.6%. Central bank governor Ernest Addison has described the inflation rate as “baffling”. The monetary policy rate “appears not to be effective in easing inflationary pressure,” Dzansi says. That does not mean it was wrong to raise rates, as the situation would otherwise be worse, he says. But higher rates usually work when inflation is caused by demand, whereas a larger part of the problem now comes from the supply side, he adds.

SOURCE: THE AFRICA REPORT