Welcome to The High Street Journal’s Week in Focus! here we serve you the most intriguing stories for the week—and trust me, it’s been packed! Let’s dive right in
Big news, guys! Ghana’s Gross International Reserves have surged to US$8.89 billion, covering four months of imports. That’s the highest we’ve seen in YEARS! But what’s fueling this? Well, a major factor is our improved trade balance, which ended December 2024 with a surplus of US$4.98 billion, up from US$4.41 billion in November. Things are looking up, right?
Breathe easy, Ghana! The country just secured a US$2.8 billion debt relief from official creditors. Now, that’s a game-changer! This means less financial pressure on the new government and more fiscal space for development. Will this translate into real relief for businesses and ordinary Ghanaians? Time will tell!
If you were hoping for a reduction in interest rates on loans, we hate to break it to you—but it’s NOT happening… at least not yet. The Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met this week and decided to keep the policy rate at 27%. Businesses that were expecting some relief might have to wait a little longer.
This week, ECOWAS officially withdrew the membership of the three Sahelian states—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—for breaching democratic governance principles. Sounds serious, right? But here’s the twist—despite kicking them out, ECOWAS will still allow free trade access for goods and services from these countries. So… what exactly does that mean? Are they out but not really out?
Bright Simons is calling out the Bank of Ghana for the cedi’s persistent depreciation. According to him, BoG’s strategy of pumping dollars into the system is actually backfiring! Instead of stabilizing the cedi, it’s causing mispricing, speculation, and more instability. So, should we be rethinking our approach?
Big shake-up at COCOBOD! The newly appointed Acting CEO, Dr. Randy Abbey, says he’s poised to turn things around for Ghana’s declining cocoa production. His plan? Large-scale farming and a commitment to improving the financial welfare of cocoa farmers. Could this be the beginning of a new era for cocoa farmers? Well, as we like to say—let’s wait and see!
And finally, our spotlight of the week is on the new Acting Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Anthony Kwasi Sarpong. He’s on a mission to transform revenue mobilization in Ghana. No pressure, sir! But we’ll definitely be watching!
This is where we draw curtains on this week’s edition of “The Week in Focus” by The High Street Journal. Let’s meet again next week. Have a great weekend.
