The head of  University of Ghana Business school, Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor, has joined the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) as its seventh member.

He takes over from Dr. Nii Sowa, former Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission and Country Director of International Growth Centre, who retired from the MPC in December 2014 after serving for twelve years.

The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee is made up of seven members – the Governor, the two Deputy Governors, the head of the Bank’s Research Department, the head of Banking Operations, and two external members appointed directly by the Minister of Finance.

The external directors may either come from academia or from the private sector.

The appointment of external members is designed to complement the expertise within the Bank of Ghana.

The mandate of the MPC is derived from section 27 of the Bank of Ghana Act 612 (2002). The Act requires the establishment of an MPC to be responsible for formulating and implementing policy in the areas of money, banking and credit with the main aim of maintaining stable prices conducive to balanced and stable economic growth as well as promoting and preserving monetary stability.

The committee sets an interest rate it judges to be consistent with an inflation target and an objective of growth.

Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor  is a Professor of Finance and the Dean of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Legon.

He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town after completing the coursework component (Financial Economics) of the PhD at the Department of Economics, Harvard University, United States.

He is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) (UK).

Professor Abor is a researcher with the African Economic Research Consortium and his areas of research interest include Development Finance, Banking, Financial Market Development, Small Business Finance, Corporate Finance and Governance, International Finance, and Issues in Financial Economics.

His papers have appeared in reputable international journals, including, Studies in Economics and Finance, Journal of Economic Studies, International Journal of Social Economics, African Development Review, Review of Development Finance, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Corporate Governance: An International Review, Thunderbird International Business Review, Research in International Business and Finance, Emerging Market Finance and Trade, and Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money.

Joshua is a Visiting Professor of Finance at the UCT Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and has also held Visiting Scholar positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC in the United States.

He serves on the editorial boards of a number of international business, finance and economics journals.

He has also consulted extensively in the fields of finance, banking, and development initiatives for a number of international and local institutions.

He serves on the board of some institutions, including the National Banking College and currently chairs the board of SIC Life Company Ltd, and Best Western Premier Hotel.