BoG Governor Dr. Issahaku resigns

The Central Bank Governor, Dr Abdul  Nashiru Issahaku has resigned.

Citi Business News has gathered his resignation takes effect from the 1st of April, 2017.

It’s unclear what led to his resignation but the Governor is reported to have cited personal reasons for the move.

Dr Issahaku was appointed Governor of the Bank of Ghana by former President, John Mahama in April, 2016 after his predecessor Dr. Henry Wampah resigned.

He was the 14th person to have been appointed Governor of the BoG.

Prior to his appointment as Governor, he was the the Second Deputy Governor of the BoG.

His stay at the post had been questioned, following the coming into power of the Nana Akufo-Addo government.

At the time, some industry players defended his occupancy of the position, stating that the BoG Law protected governors from being dismissed.

He had recently come under fire for approving a 4.6 billion cedis contract to allow the company, Sibton Switch System to execute mobile money inetroperability.

Upon his appointment, he had battled to stem rising inflation and a depreciating cedi and introduced the auctioning of dollars to deal with the cedi’s poor performance against major foreign currencies among others.

In his last MPC press conference with Business Editors, he expressed optimism that the cedi’s performance would improve.

During that meeting he also announced a 200 basis point cut in the bank’s policy rate which he attributed to a drop in inflationary trends among others.

“The Committee noted that underlying inflation pressures have eased considerably and inflation is projected to trend downwards the medium term target of 8 plus or minus 2 percent,” he said.

He added, “Recent developments in inflation imply money increasing tightening, consequently the MPC has decided to reduce the policy rate by 200 basis points to 23.5 percent.”

The Former Governor further noted that the confidence of an improved inflation and indication of low growth warranted a reduction of the policy.

“However there are indications that growth is likely to remain significantly below potential which alongside an improved inflation outlook, provides some scope for monetary policy easing.”

This is the second time that the MPC has reduced the policy rate after keeping it unchanged at 26 percent for a greater part of 2016.

Citi Business News has gathered Dr Issahaku will be replaced by a former director of research at the BoG Mr Ernest Addison who is currently with the AFDB.

Profile of Dr. Issahaku

Dr. Issahaku is an International Development Economist with several years of experience in economic policy management and development, having worked with reputable international and local institutions including the World Bank as a Senior Public Sector Specialist; the African Development Bank as a Principal Governance Expert; the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa as a Development Management Officer; the Canadian International Development Agency as a Socio-Economic Advisor and Project Coordinator; and the National Development Planning Commission, Ghana as a Senior Planning Analyst.

Before his appointment as Governor of the Bank of Ghana, he was the Second Deputy Governor and Executive Board member with oversight responsibilities of nine departments including Economics, Statistics, Finance, Legal, Banking Supervision and Financial Stability.

He was Chairman of the Investment Management Committee of the Bank and a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee.

Dr. Issahaku was a member of Ghana’s Economic Management Team. He chaired the Finance and Administration (F&A) Committee of the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Company and he was the Commissioner and Chairman of the F&A Committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

He was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Export Development and Agriculture Investment Fund, which he restructured and helped restore to operational effectiveness before his appointment to the central bank in 2013.

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By:  Vivian Kai Lokko/Citibusinessnews.com/Ghana