Johnson Asiama, right

Ghana has named monetary policy specialist Johnson Asiama as second deputy governor of the central bank – the regulator’s third highest ranking official. 

He replaces Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku who was promoted to the top job after the previous governor Henry Kofi Wampah announced his surprise resignation late last month.

Asiama, 48, is an economist with around 20 years of experience at the Bank of Ghana and, until his appointment on Thursday, had co-ordinated the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The MPC sets the bank’s benchmark policy rate, which is currently at 26 percent.

Asiama, who holds an economics doctorate from the University of Southampton in Britain, also headed the macroeconomic management department at the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management in Lagos, Nigeria.

*Reuters