The Majority in Parliament has rejected the Minority's claim that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) understated its 2025 financial loss.

In a response, Atta Issah, Sagnarigu MP and member of the Parliament's Finance Committee, insists the central bank’s audited accounts were properly prepared and fully disclosed.

The dispute follows Minority claims that the Bank’s actual loss was far higher than the reported GH¢15.6 billion.

According to the Minority, adding other comprehensive income raised the figure to GH¢34.9 billion, while reversing gains from gold sales pushed it close to GH¢44 billion.

The opposition also alleged that gold transactions and accounting adjustments were used to conceal the true extent of the loss.

Responding to those claims, the Majority said public scrutiny of the central bank was legitimate but warned that audited financial statements must be interpreted accurately and in line with established accounting standards.

“The audited financial statements clearly report a loss for the year of GH¢15.63 billion. This is derived from total operating income of GH¢22.28 billion and total operating expenses of GH¢37.91 billion.”

“It is the official, audited loss. It is not a political figure. It is the figure presented in accordance with applicable accounting standards.”

The Majority rejected the Minority’s attempt to combine the annual loss with other comprehensive income.

“The Minority’s claim that GH¢15.6 billion plus GH¢19.3 billion equals a ‘true loss’ is incorrect.”

“Profit or loss and other comprehensive income are distinct components.”

It explained that other comprehensive income captures “unrealised valuation changes,” “exchange rate differences” and “reserve remeasurements,” stressing that these are non-cash items.

“These are non-cash. They do not reflect operating performance. They are not distributable losses.”

“Other comprehensive income is reported separately and cannot be added to construct a different loss figure.”

On the controversial gold transaction, the Majority said the GH¢9.57 billion gain from the sale of refined gold was properly disclosed and audited.

“This is not artificial revenue.”

“It is a realised gain from asset reallocation.”

“Central banks manage reserves. That includes gold. Rebalancing assets and realising gains is standard practice.”

The Majority also dismissed the Minority’s GH¢44 billion claim as “methodologically flawed,” saying it involved “double counting of valuation effects already captured in OCI,” “removal of legitimate realised income” and “construction of a metric not recognised under any accounting framework.”

“There is no audited or recognised figure called ‘underlying loss’ constructed in this way.”

The debate has also drawn attention to the Bank’s worsening negative equity position, which rose from about GH¢61 billion to about GH¢93 billion. The Majority said that the movement should not be treated as a single-year operating loss.

“It reflects cumulative balance sheet effects, including the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, monetary policy operations and exchange rate valuation changes.”

The Majority said the financial statements identified the key drivers of the losses, including “GH¢16.7 billion in open market operation costs,” exchange rate effects and gold-related valuation impacts.

“These arise from policy actions taken to stabilize the economy.”

“They are not evidence of misreporting. They are the cost of policy.”

Closing its response, the Majority said: “Nothing is hidden. The issue is not transparency. The issue is interpretation.”

“The audited accounts are clear. The disclosures are complete. The numbers speak for themselves.”

“What is required is careful reading, not selective interpretation.”