A Professor of Finance and Economics at the University of Ghana, Godfred Bokpin, has raised concerns over the financial position of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), warning that its current state could undermine confidence as the country prepares to exit its International Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported programme.

Speaking on Super Morning Show on Monday, 5 May, Prof Bokpin said the central bank’s financial statements present a worrying picture at a critical moment for Ghana’s economic recovery.

“I felt a bit uncomfortable that the books of the Central Bank actually look like this at the time when we are planning to exit the IMF-supported programme,” he said.

He noted that the situation raises questions about policy credibility and could affect investor confidence. “The books don’t look that credible to various stakeholders, investors, and stuff like that,” he added, cautioning that such concerns have historically contributed to Ghana’s recourse to IMF support.

Prof Bokpin, however, indicated that the losses were not entirely unexpected, pointing to similar trends in recent years.

“For me, it hasn’t been that surprising,” he said. “What we are discussing in 2026 is not so different from the narrative from the Central Bank in 2022 and 2023 when they booked losses.”

He observed that while the scale of losses may have increased, the central bank’s justification has remained largely unchanged.

“The magnitude cannot be compared to what we are talking about in 2025, but the line of defence from the Central Bank is not entirely different from what we are hearing now,” he explained.

Despite the concerns, Prof Bokpin acknowledged that the current situation offers an opportunity for greater transparency and public scrutiny.

“The only good thing now is that the cost of delivering low inflation or macroeconomic stability is now available to the people of Ghana to compare and to do some kind of cost-benefit analysis,” he said.

He emphasised that central banks are typically assessed based on the efficiency and prudence of their policy decisions, including the pace and mix of interventions.

“The efficiency, the prudence of policy deployment, the mix, the pace of adjustment and all of that tends to be evaluated more when the cost of delivering the outcome is compared, and that is where we are,” he added.

However, he warned that the financial cost of recent policy actions could limit the BoG’s ability to respond effectively to future economic shocks.

“If you look at the cost and the implication for policy solvency and also whether we are preserving policy scope for the Central Bank in the future to be able to respond to a crisis, we should all be concerned regardless of our political affiliations,” he said.

Prof Bokpin further called for a more objective national discussion on the issue, urging stakeholders to move beyond partisan considerations.

“What we must discuss now… is that we’ll be able to take the politics out of it and really see the real culprit for this,” he stated.

He also criticised what he described as a long-standing pattern in which governments rely on the central bank’s balance sheet to address fiscal challenges.

“In the last couple of decades, politicians across the two main political divides have found a convenient way of sacrificing the balance sheet of the Bank of Ghana to clean up or to hold up for what they should have done,” he said.

According to him, this trend has contributed to a situation where political actors, rather than the central bank itself, are increasingly compelled to explain its financial position to the public.

“It’s the reason why we are seeing an increasing trend in Ghana where politicians feel ultimate responsibility to explain the balance sheet of the Bank of Ghana to the people of Ghana than the Bank of Ghana itself,” he added.

His comments come amid growing debate over the sustainability of recent economic stabilisation measures and their implications for Ghana’s post-IMF recovery trajectory.