Ecobank Ghana, a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has supported Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) to build the capacity of over 115 Ghanaian Financial and Economic Journalists within the past three years.
The training enables them to further intensify their reporting on small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
Just last week, Ecobank and the BoG sponsored a two-day training workshop for 35 journalists in Accra on monetary policy framework of the economy.
The workshop, which was organised by the JBA, was themed: ‘Monetary Policy, Tools for Economic Development’ aimed at deepening the understanding of the journalists on the theme.
The journalists who participated in the workshop were drawn from print, electronic media and online media.
Opening the workshop, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, lauded the JBA for putting together such a training that would immensely benefit the media in their reportage on the economy.
He therefore urged the media to collaborate with the bank to send the right message to the public.
In his own words: “As markets work better with more information, good communication practices will have to be promoted and must not be neglected or downplayed. We are, therefore, entreating the media to continue to play an integral role in the monetary policy process by effectively communicating the intentions and directions of the central bank policies to economic agents to better anchor expectations”.
Dr Addison used the occasion to explain how the BoG is using inflation targeting to ensure price stability in the Ghanaian economy.
He empasised that: “Inflation targeting has served the Bank of Ghana well over the past decade.
” The framework has helped lower inflation and inflation volatility as well as exchange rate variability. Prior to the implementation of the framework, inflation was highly volatile and hovered above 40 percent, but has since declined significantly and edging closer to the medium-term target of 8±2 percent”.
The Executive Director of Ecobank Ghana, Morgan Asiedu was enthused that the training workshops sponsored the bank has had tremendous impact on business reporting in Ghana.
“The end result of this is that most journalists are now taking the concept of business specialisation seriously with enhanced reporting on financial and economic issues.
Facilitators of the two-day training work were Dr. Kwame Osei-Yeboah, Head of Macroprudential Office, Bank of Ghana; Eric Adjapong, Bank Examiner—Policy and Regulation, Banking and Supervision Department, Bank of Ghana; and Economist and Senior Lecturer of the University of Cape Coast, Dr. John Gatsi .
African Eye Report
