The Bank of Ghana says its latest confidence surveys conducted in December 2021 signalled mixed sentiments.

While consumer confidence softened because of recent increases in ex-pump petroleum prices and the announcement of new tax measures in the 2022 budget, business sentiments on the other hand improved.

According to the Central Bank, the improved business sentiments were driven by the achievement of short-term company targets and optimism about companies’ growth prospects.

In addition, the Ghana Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which gauges the rate of inventory accumulation by managers of private sector firms and which measures dynamics in economic activity, increased for four consecutive months in the second half of 2021.

This development the Central Bank said is consistent with the observation of a steady increase in economic activity.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank’s updated Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) recorded an annual growth of 10.2 percent in November 2021, compared with 11.9 percent in the corresponding period of 2020.

The key drivers of economic activity during the period were increased industrial production, consumption, exports, construction activities, and air-passenger arrivals.