Ghana central bank cuts policy rate to 17 pct

Ghana’s central bank has slashed its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 17 percent on Monday, saying the West African country was on track to meet its medium-term inflation target as the economy stabilised.
Ghana, Nigeria's neighbour is in its final year of a $918 million credit deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to narrow its deficit and reduce debt and inflation and has now lowered the rate by 850 basis points over the past year.
Speaking in the capital Accra, Central Bank Governor Ernest Addison projected that inflation would fall to the bank’s target of eight percent by the end of this year or early 2019.
“There is evidence to show that some stabilisation and consolidation, especially with inflation and exchange rates expectations, are taking hold,” he told reporters.
Annual inflation fell to 9.6 percent in April from 10.4 percent the month before.
The West African country’s public debt declined from 69.8 of gross domestic product at the end of 2017 to 60 percent at the end of February, Addison said.