Dr. Johnson Asiama, the governor of the Bank of Ghana, has stated that measures to combat food inflation, a significant contributor to total inflation, will be included in the incoming 2025 budget.
The central bank believes that targeted fiscal actions are necessary to stabilize prices and maintain macroeconomic stability since rising food prices are driving up family and business spending.
In a Bloomberg interview on inflationary trends, Dr. Asiama admitted that pressures on food prices were the main reason why the most recent inflation reading was higher than anticipated. He underlined that policy action is necessary to address these systemic challenges.
“Last reading came in a little higher, but we think that going forward, if you look at the causes of the inflationary pressures, it was mainly from food inflation. It was mainly structural in nature, and so therefore the coming budget statement, which is about to be presented, should be presenting a number of measures that can contain food inflation. If that is done, I am sure we will see a return to the disinflation path,” he stated.
Additionally, Dr. Asiama disclosed that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana will convene next month to reevaluate the state of the economy and decide on a suitable course of action.
“We plan to hold the next monetary policy meeting next month, where we will reassess the conditions and take an appropriate decision. Therefore, once we have an appropriate monetary policy stance in place and then also food price inflation is well controlled, we will begin to see inflation trending back to its target path,” he added.
Source: newsthemegh.com