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The continuous increase demand for gold as a safe haven for investors in the current times of global economic uncertainty, has driven producer inflation for April 2020 upwards to 7.4 percent, representing a 0.6 percentage point increase relative to the rate recorded in March 2020 of 6.8 percent, data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has shown. The mining and quarrying sub-sector’s producer price inflation increased by 14.3 percent over the March 2020 rate of 23.7 percent, to reach 38.0 percent in April 2020. The price of gold on the international market shot up from about US$ 1,639 per ounce on the April 01, 2020 to US$ 1,760 per ounce as at April 15, before then declining slightly to US$ 1,688 per ounce by the end of April. However, the commodity is currently trading at US$ 1,753 per ounce as at May 20, 2020.

The interest rate on Ghana Government’s 600m stimulus package for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has been reviewed from 5 to 3 percent. This information was revealed on Thursday, May 21, 2020 when the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) was giving updates on COVID-19 alleviation program at the Ministry of Information press briefing.
Addressing the press, the Chief Executive Officer of NBSSI Kosi Yankey Ayeh said after stakeholder deliberations, the 5 percent interest rate was reduced to 3. “After deliberations with the president, finance ministry and the industry. After conducting a survey of about 1700 MSMEs in Ghana, initially we had suggested 5 percent but the president in consultation with the team decided to review that interest rate due to the plight of the Ghanaian MSMEs at a time such as this, to 3 percent.”
She however noted that the one-year moratorium remains unchanged and “businesses have the option to ensure that they choose a moratorium that works best for them.” The NBSSI boss also indicated that businesses with over 99 staff are not eligible for the GH¢600m stimulus package.

After staying virtually flat for about a year and a half, the average lending rate of banks has started to show signs of decline in April after the Bank of Ghana reduced the monetary policy rate the month before. The Summary of Economic and Financial data (May 2020) published by the Bank of Ghana has shown that average lending rate has finally moved out of its comfort zone to a step downward. Prior to recording 22.38 percent in April, the average lending rate has since the past 17 months (December 2018) not come below 23 percent. The decline, though marginal, offers a glimpse of hope for the private sector that lending rates may come down in future if economic conditions make it possible for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank to further cut the policy rate after it reduced it by 150 basis points to 14.5 percent in March, following the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country.

Oil prices tumbled about 2% on Friday on rising U.S.-China tensions and doubts about how quickly fuel demand would recover from the coronavirus crisis. Fuel demand plummeted in recent months as the pandemic caused governments to impose restrictions on movement and businesses closed their doors. Oil has rallied in recent days as activity started to resume. KorBut prices dropped after China said on Friday it would not publish an annual growth target for the first time. Beijing also pledged more government spending as the pandemic kept hammering the economy. “The coronavirus has nullified a decade of global oil demand growth and the recovery will be slow,” said Stephen Brennock of broker PVM.

President Akuffo Addo has announced Auditing and accounting firm KPMG to serve as technical advisors to the GH¢1 billion stimulus package to be managed by the National Board for Scale Industries. According to the President, the auditing firm will support the efforts by the Loan committee and other state agencies handling the fund to effectively achieve the target for the program. President Akuffo Addo used the opportunity to assure all micro small and medium enterprises that the disbursement of the fund will be transparent. He made the announcement when launching the programme at flagstaff house in Accra.

The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), and the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) have agreed to extend the waiver of fees on digital banking platforms to June 20, 2020. The waiver, which took effect on March 23, 2020, was part of efforts to encourage the use of digital payment options to limit the possible spread of the novel Coronavirus through the use of cash. However, the Ghana Association of Bankers disagreed with plans by GhIPPs to resume the charges on the GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP), Mobile Money Interoperativity (MMI) and ACH Direct Credit. This was after GhIPSS in an earlier announcement to banks and other partner agencies, stated that it will from May 23, 2020, resume the charging of fees on mobile money interoperability, GhIPSS instant pay, Banks & Fintechs offering Instant Pay services to their respective customers, and banks leveraging the ACH Direct Credit platform for bulk payments such as salaries.

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