A modelling of Ghana's inflation experience : 1960-2003

The study sought to ascertain the key determinants of inflation in Ghana for the past 40 years. Stylized facts about Ghana's inflation experience indicate that since the country's exit from the West African Currency Board soon after independence, inflation management has been ineffective despite two decades of vigorous reforms. Using the Johansen cointegration test and an error correction model, the paper identified inflation inertia, changes in money and changes in Government of Ghana treasury bill rates, as well as changes in the exchange rate, as determinants of inflation in the short run. Of these, inflation inertia is the dominant determinant of inflation in Ghana. It is therefore suggested that to make treasury bill rates more effective as a nominal anchor, inflationary expectations ought to be reduced considerably.