The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has challenged the Bank of Ghana (BoG) leadership to find creative ways to drastically lower interest rates to unlock domestic private investment.
The monarch argued that the current cost of credit remains a crippling barrier to building a self-sufficient economy.
Speaking during a historic courtesy call to the central bank’s headquarters on Wednesday, the Asantehene acknowledged recent improvements in inflation and exchange rate stability.
However, he pointedly stated that these early gains would remain incomplete without a decisive shift in monetary policy to make borrowing affordable for Ghanaian businesses.
“The challenge I leave with your creative brains,” the Asantehene told the Governor, Dr. Johnson Asiamah, his deputies, and the Monetary Policy Committee, “is to fashion how you move the economy from the crippling high interest regime to the level where it becomes a stimulant of business and wealth creation.”
His comments came just moments after the Governor had cautioned against confusing recent economic improvements with permanent stability, emphasizing that a strong currency must be earned continuously through a productive real economy.
The Asantehene framed his appeal as a national economic imperative. He dismissed the notion that government spending or significant foreign investment could alone solve Ghana’s developmental needs, particularly in an era of global uncertainty.
“No amount of investment by government on its own can scratch the surface of what we need,” he stated.
“This moment calls for a massive push to stimulate domestic private investment in industry. That cannot happen with interest at the current level.”
While noting that interest rates “have begun coming down,” the traditional ruler stressed that, based on past experience, the pace must be accelerated.
His intervention places a public and powerful spotlight on the central bank’s next Monetary Policy Committee meeting, where the benchmark rate will be set.
Analysts see the speech as a significant nudge from a revered institutional figure, applying moral and traditional authority to a core technical policy debate. It underscores a growing consensus among business leaders and civil society that the cost of credit is stifling local enterprise.
The Bank of Ghana has been gradually reducing its policy rate over the past several months as inflation has trended downward.
The Asantehene’s public challenge now raises the stakes, calling not for caution, but for assertive action to translate macroeconomic stability into tangible growth for businesses and job creation.
The Governor, in his earlier remarks, issued a reminder that the recent stability and strength of the Ghanaian cedi, while encouraging, should not be mistaken for a permanent achievement.
He emphasised that sustained economic discipline and productivity are the only true guarantors of long-term currency stability.
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