Nadia Ntiamoah
The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Zakari Mumuni says moving from data quality to policymaking has increasingly incorporated statistical modelling and technology into its assessment of the economy.
The deputy Governor who was speaking at Tamale said the Bank’s inflation-targeting framework is forward-looking and requires policymakers to continuously assess where the economy stands, where it is heading, what could change its trajectory and what policy response would be appropriate.
This process involves analysing a wide range of indicators, including prices, output, credit, exchange rates, fiscal conditions and financial markets, while also considering how these variables interact with one another. The Bank uses econometric techniques and its Quarterly Projection Model within a Forecast and Policy Analysis System to identify emerging trends, assess risks and examine the likely consequences of alternative policy choices.
Technology, he said, is also helping the central bank obtain economic intelligence more rapidly. The Bank has deployed artificial intelligence and Big Data technologies in developing its in-house electronic inflation nowcasting methodology known as e-Inflation.
It also uses machine-learning models alongside conventional econometric models to forecast GDP and conduct text-mining analytics. According to Dr Mumuni, the application of technology extends beyond monetary policy to financial supervision, where increasingly granular data can be validated as it arrives and potential risks identified earlier than was possible when supervisors depended heavily on static monthly spreadsheets and manual reconciliation.
He said the potential applications of alternative data are extensive. Digital payment activity, for instance, could provide faster indications of consumption patterns, while tax information could offer early signals about business activity. Satellite imagery could also potentially provide information about agricultural conditions before conventional harvest data becomes available.
For Dr Mumuni, the value of technology therefore lies not simply in its sophistication but in its ability to reduce the time between an economic event occurring and policymakers becoming aware of it.
Human judgment cannot be replaced by technology
Despite the Bank of Ghana’s growing investment in artificial intelligence, data analytics and virtual assets, Dr Mumuni cautioned against viewing technology as a substitute for human judgment.
He recalled that at his swearing-in in February 2025, Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama committed the Bank to adopting a more proactive and precise approach to managing inflation through advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence.
Dr Mumuni said the Bank had continued to strengthen its capabilities in these areas but insisted that technological advancement must complement, rather than eliminate, the role of policymakers.
“Technology can strengthen our intelligence, but it does not remove the need for human judgment,” he stressed.
