By Nadia Ntiamoah
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is undertaking a broad modernisation of its monetary policy framework, with Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama outlining a series of reforms aimed at making policy decisions more transparent, strengthening the transmission of interest-rate signals and improving the central bank’s ability to respond to economic shocks.
Dr. Asiama disclosed the measures at a High-Level Forum on the Modernisation of Monetary Policy Formulation and Implementation held at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra on Monday, August 17, 2026.
The forum brought together central bank officials, representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Director of IMF AFRITAC West 2 and other policymakers to exchange experiences on strengthening monetary policy frameworks.
The Governor said the importance of monetary policy extended far beyond the technical decisions taken by a central bank, stressing that changes in policy could directly affect the cost of borrowing, household purchasing power, farmers’ ability to finance production and the capacity of small traders to replenish their businesses.
He noted that monetary policy decisions also influence investment, employment and savings, ultimately affecting the welfare and livelihoods of ordinary citizens. However, such decisions are often made amid uncertainty, incomplete information and imperfect knowledge about the future direction of the economy.
According to Dr. Asiama, the environment confronting central banks has become considerably more difficult in recent years.
Policymakers are having to contend with overlapping economic shocks, geopolitical tensions, volatile commodity and energy prices, changing global trade and financial patterns, rapid technological developments and increasingly complex financial systems.
He explained that shocks originating in one part of the world could rapidly spill over into other economies through higher food and energy prices, exchange-rate pressures, tighter financial conditions and renewed inflationary pressures.
This, he said, requires monetary policy frameworks that are resilient enough to withstand uncertainty, flexible enough to respond to changing circumstances and credible enough to keep inflation expectations anchored.
From consensus to majority voting
A major change introduced by the Bank of Ghana concerns how the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) arrives at its decisions.
Dr. Asiama said the Bank had moved away from a consensus-building approach to a majority-vote system since March 2025, bringing its decision-making process closer to practices adopted by other major inflation-targeting central banks.
Under the revised arrangement, individual MPC members now publish decision statements setting out the data and reasoning behind their preferred policy direction. The Governor said the change was intended to make monetary policy more transparent and demonstrate to the public that decisions were based on economic evidence rather than arbitrary judgments.
He argued that differences of opinion among MPC members should not undermine the credibility of monetary policy. Rather, he said credibility depends on decisions being evidence-based, clearly communicated and subject to institutional accountability.
The reform therefore represents a significant shift in the way monetary policy decisions are presented to the public, moving away from what Dr. Asiama described as a less transparent, “behind closed doors” approach towards a system in which the reasoning of individual policymakers is more clearly disclosed.
BoG places greater emphasis on communication
The Governor also identified communication as a central component of the Bank’s monetary policy strategy.
He said the BoG had strengthened its communication framework by introducing a practice under which the Governor briefs the media at the beginning of each MPC meeting on developments in the global and domestic economies and the key issues confronting policymakers.
The Bank has also organised post-MPC regional media engagements and workshops aimed at improving financial journalists’ understanding of monetary policy.
