The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana will today [January 19, 2018] commence its annual meetings to review the Ghanaian economy.
This will be the first for this year and it will conclude with the announcement of a policy rate on Monday, January 22, 2018.
For last year [2017] alone, the central bank reduced the policy rate by 550 basis points.
The rate was reduced from 25.5 percent in January 2017 to 20 percent in November 2017.
The policy rate is the rate at which the Bank of Ghana lends to commercial banks for onward lending to their consumers.
Some financial observers have however expressed concern at the marginal rate by which banks have reduced their interest rates on loans they give to consumers despite the significant reduction in the policy rate.
For instance, the Bank of Ghana’s Annual Percentage Rates (APR) and Average Interest (AI) report shows that in January 2017, the average base rate that is the minimum rate charged on loans to consumers, stood at 27.6 percent.
The figure had reduced by about 7 percent to 25.7 percent as at December the same year.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana