African central banks need to brace for Fed tapering, says Ghana's Opata

The reduction of asset purchases expected by the Federal Reserve within the next year will cause central banks to suffer capital losses as US sovereign yields rise, according to Steve Opata, head of middle office at the Bank of Ghana.

"Central bank FX reserve portfolios are likely to experience some capital losses on existing US fixed income portfolios," Opata said. "As national asset managers we should have positioned ourselves already or are positioning ourselves now for when yields start