Minority Demands President’s Address On ‘Collapse’ Of Bank Of Ghana

The Minority Leader in Ghana’s parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson is demanding from President Akufo-Addo to as a matter of urgency, address the nation on the GH¢60.8 billion loss the Bank of Ghana recorded in 2022. 

In a Facebook post on Monday, August 14, 2023, the former Deputy Finance Minister asked the President to outline “decisive actions” he is taking to address the issue in the address. 

According to him, such an “unprecedented collapse” of the central bank cannot be swept under the carpet. 

“Given the unprecedented collapse of our central bank, it is imperative for the President of Ghana to urgently address the nation.”

“During this address, the President should outline the decisive actions that the government plans to implement in order to restore solvency to the Bank of Ghana,” he said in the Facebook post. 

Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana has already attributed GH₵53.1 billion of the total loss of GH₵60.8 billion that occurred as a result of government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

According to a statement from the BoG, it stepped in to arrest a major economic and social crisis since the domestic exchange was failing.

According to BoG, further downgrade of Ghana’s sovereign debt rating which blocked Ghana’s access to the international capital market borrowing triggered a liquidity crisis, spilling over into a balance of payments crisis.

It added that “In 2 months, the Bank of Ghana lost US$500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures.”

“It became clear that Ghana was on a path that was unsustainable, and the Government had to approach the IMF for support in July 2022. The IMF process included putting into place a credible programme of reform, which included restructuring the total government debt to sustainable levels.”

“Until the Staff Level Agreement with the IMF was reached in December 2022, the Bank of Ghana had to continue to provide the necessary support to keep the economy running.”