that the plight of the poor and vulnerable could worsen, unless timely policy interventions are adopted to help prevent a complete reversal of the gains that have been achieved in poverty reduction and financial inclusion in the developing world. 9. there is global consensus that the pre - covid 19 economic order was skewed against women. the world bank ’ s 2017 global findex survey reported that of the 1. 7 billion of unbanked adults globally, 56 percent are women, and in developing economies like ghana, women remain 9 percentage points more likely to be unbanked than men. in sub - saharan africa, only 37 percent of women have a bank account, compared with 48 percent of men, a gap that has only widened over the past several years. without access to critical funding, women - owned businesses suffer, and struggle to create the scale that is needed to connect to global value chains and become economically significant. the un fao estimates that the contributions of african women to economic activities on the continent are considerable, albeit mostly informal. women in africa are responsible for 70 % of crop production, 50 % of animal husbandry and 60 % of market activity. women undertake nearly 100 % of food processing activities, in addition to child care and other responsibilities in households. women ’ s formal ownership of smes currently stands at around a third of all registered smes in africa, and women - owned smes are more likely to have lower sales and annual turnover, less employees, and smaller size than those enterprises owned by men. a march 2020 african development bank study also confirms that female entrepreneurs dominate key growth sectors such as agriculture, textile and garments and yet lack access to critical funding. these statistics tell a story that is troubling particularly in the context of the new economic realities that the pandemic has unleashed on the developing world. 10. to reduce the burden of the pandemic on ghana ’ s economy and in particular on small businesses and low income households, the government and bank of ghana instituted certain measures. the government ’ s support package included a small loan facility to msmes to the tune of ghc 600 million ( appx us $ 100 million ), a ghc 100 billion ( appx 18 billion ) cares programme to expedite economic recovery, and the absorption of water and electricity bills for a few months. 11. the bank of ghana ’ s policy and regulatory measures since march 2020 have included : a 150 basis points reduction in our monetary policy rate ; a reduction of

##winds, the outcomes would be unsustainable and inflationary. this is not some hypothetical speculation ; there are very visible examples of countries that did not get monetary policy tight enough and are paying a high price. our mandate is clear : we have a duty to step in and ensure price stability. this equates to protecting the purchasing power of households, preserving the value of savings and the global competitiveness of south african businesses. and where this requires higher interest rates, plainly we need to deliver them - as we have done. but the more material question to ask is, does this economy not need lower rates? and the answer to that is, yes. we are in a suboptimal macroeconomic space, and if we could coordinate our way to a better set of macro settings, we could be better off. i would love to see rates being lower for longer, not higher for longer. and there are things we can do, as a country, to make that possible. it is not hard to imagine reforms that bring down the country risk premium. it is also not hard to imagine reforms that lower inflation. reduced country risk would help the exchange rate. lower administered price increases would directly reduce inflation. it is also helpful to think about a lower inflation target, like those of other well - run emerging markets. but i will leave this topic for another day. all these changes would give the sarb space for lower rates. and to the extent that some of these reforms temporarily weakened demand, that would bolster the case for lower rates. so, that is one problem with'higher for longer'- it is the second - best outcome, not the first. it is what we must do in a situation where the sarb carries more of the burden of stabilising the macroeconomy. the first - best solution entails broader burden - sharing and therefore lower interest rates. the other problem with'higher for longer'is that it sounds too much like a commitment. 6 / 7 bis - central bankers'speeches over the past few years, central banks have experimented more widely with what is called'forward guidance ', and the results have not been pretty. the problem is, when you say something about the outlook for interest rates and then add all your caveats, people just hear the first part. they then get hurt when they act on the projections and do something else. worse still, central banks can feel obliged to stick with their initial commitments, even