The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, addressed the media at the 119th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press briefing.
Dr. Addison stated that the Bank of Ghana is aware of the upcoming payments and has made provisions for them in the cash flow projections.
“We are very much aware of the upcoming payments, if you look at the cash flow projections, you would see that provisions have been made for this particular payment,” he said.
He further assured that the Bank of Ghana has built up reserves to meet some of these lumpy payments in the outlook.
“So yes, we have built up reserves to meet some of these lumpy payments in the outlook,” Dr. Addison stated.
Ghana’s gross international reserves have improved in the first half of the year, increasing to $6.86 billion from $5.34 billion recorded in the same period in 2023.
The Governor noted that the Ghana Cedi has depreciated by 19.6% against the US Dollar from the beginning of the year to July 19, 2024, compared to 22.1% for the same period last year.
Dr. Addison also highlighted the decline in core inflation, which excludes energy and utility items from the consumer basket.
“In line with the ease in headline inflation, the BoG’s main core inflation measure declined to 22.1% in June 2024 from 22.6% in May,” he said.
Ghana is expected to make significant debt service payments this year, ranging from $600 million to $800 million. A substantial portion of this amount, approximately $478 million, will go towards settling debts with Eurobond holders, following a recent debt restructuring agreement.
This agreement, which involved a 37% reduction in payments, is anticipated to result in a total debt forgiveness of around $4.7 billion and debt service relief of $4.4 billion over the period from 2023 to 2026.
