Parliament has approved GH¢11.896 billion as supplementary estimates for the 2020 financial year to meet government expenditure. The approval followed the request made by government in the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review of the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament pursuant to Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921). Mr …
The government of Ghana has called on the European Commission to suspend the unilateral publication of the European Commission’s list of High-Risk Third Countries and Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorists. Ghana is among a list of 22 states set to be blacklisted by the European Union (EU) effective October 2020. The European Commission in May this …
To further boost repo trading on the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM), the Bank of Ghana has issued a new directive, allowing banks and other contractual counterparts to easily settle differences in repo transactions. The directive takes effect from July 2020, in line with Section 134 (5) of the Bank and Specialised Deposit Taking Institutions …
The Bank of Ghana is working on establishing a sandbox to promote innovation in the financial market and also test some concepts including the establishment of a Central Bank Digital Currency. First Deputy Governor, Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari, who was speaking at a Virtual Stakeholder Workshop on Payment Systems and Service Act in Accra, said there …
The World Bank has said in a report that digital financial services, powered by fintech, have the potential to lower costs by maximizing economies of scale, to increase the speed, security and transparency of transactions and to allow for more tailored financial services that serve the poor. This report – Digital Financial Services – describes …
The cedi ended the first quarter of 2020 with an appreciation of about 1.77% in value to the US dollar. The performance of the cedi was attributed largely to the Bank of Ghana’s Forward Forex Auction and the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in low imports within quarter one of this year. However, the local …
The Deputy Finance minister Charles Adu Boahene has formally launched the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund which seeks to raise funding from the private sector to support the Ghana government’s effort to address the Covid-19 pandemic. The initiative, by some business leaders in the private sector, is aimed at partly financing the government’s interventions and …
The Bank of Ghana says it will not hesitate to penalize persons who flout the Foreign Exchange Act by pricing and taking payments for goods and services in any currency apart from the Ghana cedi. The BoG’s comment follows viral images of a shop attendant at Palace Hypermarket on the Spintex Road in Accra accepting dollars …
The International Monetary Fund’s Resident Representative, Dr. Albert Touna-Mama, has said Ghana’s public debt situation puts the country in a very dire position. The public debt stands at 215 billion cedis with the World Bank warning that the country is at high risk of debt distress. Speaking at a forum organized by Graphic Business and …
Economist, Prof. Peter Quartey, has shot down the proposal for government to consider the printing of more money to settle claims of depositors of collapsed financial institutions. He believes printing more money will have serious implications on the country’s budget deficit which is the difference between government’s revenue and expenditure. His comments follows Renowned Economist, …