Graphic Business hosts Governor Addison Thursday

The Graphic Business will host the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Thursday to discuss pertinent issues affecting the economy and the banking sector in particular.

Dubbed ‘Time with the Governor,’ the virtual interview will start at 11:00AM and will be streamed live on the Facebook pages of the Graphic Business on Facebook@graphicbusiness, the Daily Graphic on Facebook@dailygraphicghana.

It will also be streamed live on www.graphic.com.gh, the online portal of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), and other social media platforms of the group, which publishes the Graphic Business and seven other news mediums.

The ‘Time with the Governor’ is a novelty of the Graphic Business, the country’s most authoritative business and financial newspapers, for the central bank Governor and Chairman of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to provide insights into its operations and its response strategy on the COVID-19.

Benefit to businesses

Coming at a time when the pandemic had created uncertainty for businesses, the interview is opportune for business executives, middle and top management and entrepreneurs as it would help provide clarity on the direction of the economy from the perspective of the central bank.

It would also afford bank executives and the industry in general the opportunity to appreciate their regulator’s stance on how it intended to use the COVID-19 fallouts to shape their operations, going forward.

Areas

The interview is expected to discuss the COVID-19 and its impact on the economy, BoG’s response strategy, Dr Addison’s assessment of the banking sector’s ability to withstands the fallouts, COVID-19 and the central bank’s inflation targeting mechanism and the resumption of central bank financing of the budget and its implications on macroeconomic stability, among others.

It would also touch on the impact of the 2020 elections and fiscal operations on growth, debt and deficit.

Profile

Dr Addison, a trained economist, is the 15th Governor of BoG since its establishment in 1957.

He was a staff of the African Development Bank (AfDB) prior to his appointment in April 2017.

He joined BoG in 1996 and rose through the ranks to become the Head of Research of the bank in 2003, a position he occupied until 2011 when he moved to the AfDB as Lead Economist for the Southern Africa Region.

Around 200, Dr Addisson was on secondment as the leader of a taskforce established by the Authority of the Heads of States of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to conduct studies that led to the establishment of the West Africa Monetary Institute (WAMI).

He later became the Chief Economist of the institute before returning to BoG.

Dr Addison holds first degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and a M.Phil. Degree in Economics and Politics from the St. Edmunds College, Cambridge University, U.K.

He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Economics degree with specialization in Monetary Economics, Economic Development and International Economics from the McGill University, Montreal, Canada.