Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, former Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, has commended the government for reducing inflation but cautioned against over-reliance on currency stabilisation at the expense of export-led growth.
Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, January 13, Dr. Assibey-Yeboah acknowledged that rising commodity prices, particularly gold and cocoa, have boosted foreign inflows and supported macroeconomic stability.
“I applaud the government for bringing inflation down. Of course, commodity prices have gone up—gold, cocoa. So we’ve raked in a lot,” he said.
He noted that revenue from gold exports, estimated at about $10 billion, has been used in part to stabilise the local currency, a move he said benefits importers.
“You’ve seen that about $10 billion that’s coming from the gold. And so, yeah, they’ve used some to stabilise the currency. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, stabilising the currency. It profits importers,” he stated.
However, Dr. Assibey-Yeboah warned that a strong currency may undermine the government’s ambition of building an export-led economy.
“But if you want to build an export-led economy, this is not the best case,” he said.
He suggested that Ghana could allow the currency to adjust to a more competitive level, arguing that this would support exporters.
“$10.6 billion, I think we should finally settle around maybe $15 billion. There’s nothing wrong with that. Because you have exporters, mango exporters,” he added.
Ghana’s inflation rate closed 2025 at 5.4%, continuing its downward trend for a 12th consecutive month, down from 6.3% recorded in November 2025.
Data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for December 2025 showed that inflation on a month-on-month basis stood at 0.9%, indicating relatively subdued price increases toward the end of the year.
The sustained disinflation was driven largely by a slowdown in food prices.
Food inflation eased to 4.9% in December 2025, compared with 6.6% in November 2025, reflecting slower price increases for key food items.
The decline in food inflation contributed significantly to the overall reduction in the inflation rate, offering some relief to households after periods of elevated price pressures.
The continued moderation in inflation suggests improving price stability conditions following a year of consistent declines in consumer price increases.
info@businessghana.com
