ACCRA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ghana's monetary authorities on Wednesday announced a further 350-basis-point cut in the benchmark lending rate to 21.5 percent, down from 25 percent, as inflation continues to ease.

Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Asiama said the decision taken at the 126th regular meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana is in line with the easing of inflation and inflationary pressures.

This marked the second policy rate reduction this year after a 300-basis-point cut in July when the rate was brought down to 25 percent.

"Given the current state of macroeconomic conditions, the view of the MPC is that inflation will continue to ease in the near term, and in the outlook, headline inflation is expected to drop to within the medium-term target of 8 plus or minus 2 percent by the end of the fourth quarter," Asiana said.

However, he said that a possible increase in utility tariffs could exert some price pressures in the medium term, which would be controlled with the maintenance of an appropriate monetary policy stance, strong sterilization efforts, ongoing fiscal consolidation, and adequate reserve buffers to sustain the disinflation process.

The West African cocoa, gold, and crude oil exporter, which has been implementing reforms since May 2023 with the support of a three-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, has seen positive macroeconomic indices in recent months, including inflation, which fell to 11.5 percent in August, the lowest since October 2021. ■