The Minority in Parliament has described as flimsy, an attempt by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to explain questions they have raised about details in the central bank’s annual report for 2022.
Responding to a press statement by the Bank of Ghana dated August 9, 2023, the minority said BOG engaged in deliberate distortions while failing to justify the GH¢60.8 billion loss and negative equity of GH¢55.1 billion it recorded in 2022.
“In the said press statement, the Bank of Ghana attempts to shamelessly justify its recklessness and mismanagement which resulted in the huge losses of GH¢60.8 billion and the negative equity of GH¢55.1 billion it recorded in the year 2022.
“As a matter of fact, the Bank of Ghana’s unsigned press statement, is full of deliberate distortions and flimsy justifications which do not address the serious matters that were raised in our Moment of Truth presser last Tuesday,” the statement signed by the leader of the Minority, Cassiel Ato-Forson said.
The minority which earlier held a press conference accusing the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance of breaching laws guiding their operations said the central bank in its August 9 statement failed to address the core issues it raised earlier.
“The referenced Bank of Ghana’s statement does not address the most fundamental issue which has to do with the printing of money by BOG for the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government in 2021 and 2022 in clear contravention of Section 30 of the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 2016 (ACT 918). Indeed, throughout the statement, BOG does not and could not have offered any reasonable justification for printing a whopping GHS35 billion in 2021 and GHS42 billion in 2022 to finance the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government, in clear breach of their governing law.
“It is an indisputable fact, that the amount of monies printed by BOG for the reckless Akufo Addo/Bawumia government both in 2021 and 2022 far exceeds the legally acceptable threshold of 5% of the previous fiscal years’ total revenue,” the statement said.
While describing the action by the central bank and the ministry of finance as illegal, the minority raised further questions around the decision by the decision write-off GH¢48 billion in debt owed by the government to BoG.
The minority also questioned the construction of a $250 million office complex by the central bank describing the basis as untenable.
Read the minority’s full statement below:
GA/SARA
Watch the latest edition of BizTech and Biz Headlines below:
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and BoG Governor Dr Ernest Addison