(Bloomberg) -- Ghana cut its benchmark interest rate to the lowest in more than four years as the inflation rate fell within the regulator’s target band for the first time since 2013.

The Bank of Ghana reduced the rate by 100 basis points to 17 percent, Governor Ernest Addison told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra.

Lower borrowing costs may boost expansion in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. Inflation at 9.6 percent in April was below the 10 percent upper end of the target band for the first time since January 2013. Ghana’s economy expanded 8.5 percent in 2017, the fastest rate in five years, as oil and gas production surged.

The central bank has reduced the rate by 900 basis points since 2016.

--With assistance from Andre Janse van Vuuren.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ekow Dontoh in Accra at edontoh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro

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