(Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s central bank increased its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in more than 19 years to cool persistent inflation.

The monetary policy committee raised the cost of borrowing by 250 basis points to 27%, Governor Ernest Addison told reporters Monday in the capital, Accra. The median estimate of eight economists in a Bloomberg survey was for an increase of 175 basis points.

The move adds to cumulative rate increases of 11 percentage points since November that have aimed to temper runaway inflation that’s now quadruple the top of the central bank’s target band of 6% to 10% and bring the real policy rate back into positive territory to attract investment.

--With assistance from Paul Richardson.

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