Harvard appoints former BoG Governor Ernest Addison as senior research fellow

Dr Ernest Addison, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, has been appointed as a Short-Term Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University's Centre for International Development and Centre for African Studies. In this role, he will lead four student seminar sessions in October, focusing on Ghana's economic challenges and responses during his eight years as Governor.

The seminars will cover macroeconomic policies that drove high growth, the financial sector clean-up he led, Ghana's COVID-19 pandemic response, and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war. Addison will also reflect on the difficulties during the final stages of his tenure when Ghana's access to international capital markets was lost, leading to a liquidity and debt crisis.

He returned to an IMF-supported program and underwent a significant debt restructuring. While at Harvard, Addison will discuss his experiences managing the central bank during Ghana's economic crisis, the corrective measures taken in 2023 and 2024, and efforts to bolster foreign exchange reserves. A major focus will be the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, which increased foreign exchange reserves and strengthened the cedi.

The seminars will offer students insights into Addison's tenure, providing a firsthand perspective on successes and challenges faced during Ghana's economic crises and policy decisions made in response to global and domestic shocks.