Ghanaian press spotlights inflation peaking at 43.1% in July, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the general price levels in Ghana which eased in the first four months of the year are beginning to inch up again is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the general price levels in the country which eased in the first four months of the year are beginning to inch up again.
Inflation has for the third consecutive month maintained its upward trend, with the Month of July recording an inflation rate of 43.1 per cent, compared to a rate of 42.5 per cent in June.
Measured by consumer price index (CPI), inflation resumed an upward trend again in May, increasing from 41.2 per cent in April to 42.2 per cent in May.
It further increased to 42.5 per cent in June and then to the present level as of July, a development which raises concerns about the impact of the inflation-targeting measures being implemented by the monetary policy managers.
THE general price levels in the country which eased in the first four months of the year are beginning to inch up again.
Inflation has for the third consecutive month maintained its upward trend, with the Month of July recording an inflation rate of 43.1 per cent, compared to a rate of 42.5 per cent in June.
Measured by consumer price index (CPI), inflation resumed an upward trend again in May, increasing from 41.2 per cent in April to 42.2 per cent in May.
It further increased to 42.5 per cent in June and then to the present level as of July, a development which raises concerns about the impact of the inflation-targeting measures being implemented by the monetary policy managers.
It also raises fresh concerns about the economy, considering that the rise in inflation was one of the challenges that compelled the government to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The newspaper says that the Bank of Ghana has responded to the Minority in Parliament’s reaction to the bank’s financial statements for 2023.
The financial statements reported a total loss of GH¢60 billion, which has since become a matter of unfortunate politicisation. It is noteworthy that GH¢53.1 billion of those losses were a direct result of the Government’s domestic debt restructuring exercise (phase 1 and II).
It is important to put the Bank of Ghana’s 2022 financial results in proper context with a clear statement of the problem that Ghana faced and the chronology of events in Ghana since 2019.
There was a clear mismatch between revenue inflows and expenditure financed in 2020 by exceptional support from the IMF and World Bank resources, and in addition to financing from the Bank of Ghana through the issuance of the GH¢10 billion Covid-19 bond.
As a result, sovereign spreads on Ghana bonds widened, signalling investor dissatisfaction with the stance of fiscal policy. The Budget for 2022, which was read in 2021, failed to address fiscal concerns as the Budget was even more expansionary by about 23% with a raft of revenue measures to raise financing. As a result, the Credit Rating Agencies further downgraded Ghana’s sovereign debt rating, which blocked Ghana’s access to international capital market borrowing.
This triggered a liquidity crisis, spilling over into a balance of payments crisis. External and domestic payments needed to be made, the domestic auction was failing, and the Bank of Ghana had to step in to arrest a major economic and social crisis.
In 2 months, the Bank of Ghana lost US$500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures.
The Ghanaian Times reports that irregularities of approximately GH¢53.6 million occurred in the operations and management of funds by Metropolitan, Mu­nicipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) last year, the Auditor General has disclosed.
However, the figure (exactly GH¢53,636,715.87) dropped from the total irregularities of GH¢66,130,366.12 recorded in 2021, as well as the lowest since 2018.
In 2018, irregularities discovered were GH¢120,567,896.78; it increased to GH¢124,640,845.92 in 2019, but reduced to GH¢77,147,260.10 in 2020, and further down to GH¢66,130,366.12 in 2021.
This was captured in the report of the Auditor-General on the management and utilisation of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and other statutory funds for the year ended December 31, 2022, sighted by the Ghanaian Times.
The report noted that in compliance with Section 129 (b) of the Local Gover­nance Act, 2016 (Act 936), the Administra­tor of DACF distributed a total amount of GH¢370,000,000.00 to the 261 Assemblies. Out of this amount, GH¢108,213,400.00 was deducted at source in favour of Service Providers with net inflows of GH¢261,786,600.00 or 70.8 per cent to the Assemblies.
Out of the 53.6 million irreg­ularities, cash irregularities were 12,092,429.97, higher than the 2021 figure of 7,511,747.85; procurement, GH¢751,010.75, up from GH¢642,269.42; and tax shot up from GH¢495,646.19 to GH¢374,447.37
Contract irregularities were the ones that reduced from GH¢57,601,901.48 in 2021 to GH¢40,297,628.96 last year, resulting in the overall reduction in irregularities.
The newspaper says that the Development Bank Ghana (DBG) in partnership with The African Network of Entrepreneurs (TANOE) has embarked on a capacity-building training targeted at women-owned and women-led businesses across the country.
The campaign aims to reach out to a set target of 5,000 wom­en, equipping them with technical assistance and access to financial support to enhance the credit­worthiness of their businesses, facilitate job creation and ensure long-term continuous growth and sustainability.
The campaign, dubbed ‘WomanRising 5000’, is a women’s economic impact project aimed at empowering women entrepre­neurs with the necessary tools and resources to help them succeed in their respective businesses, expand their operations, increase their staff strength, and build systems and structures to ensure longevity of their businesses.
In line with achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), par­ticularly SDG 5, DBG is poised to ensure the full and effective participation of women as well as create equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of deci­sion-making and gender balance across all levels of management.
It is against this background that DBG aligned with TANOE to invest in women entrepreneurs and help them increase their capacities with regards to their businesses.
Commenting on this, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of DBG, Michael Mensah-Baah, said, “As a bank, we are inter­ested and committed to the improvement of women-led and women-owned businesses. We acknowledge that we can achieve this by tackling the foundations, which is providing first the knowledge and education needed to bring about the desired trans­formation, and after that provide the means by which these entre­preneurs can access the finances to scale up their businesses.”
In Ghana, women-led busi­nesses have contributed signifi­cantly to the growth and develop­ment of the economy, accounting for forty-four per cent (44%) of all micro, small, and medium enterprises in the country.
GIK/APA