President Akufo-Addo has described the Bank of Ghana as an institution of excellence, saying, the Central Bank has distinguished itself in the last seven years in discharging its duties to the admiration of all well-meaning Ghanaians.

According to him, it has been a sound banker to the government and a safe custodian of the country’s money.

Speaking at the 2023 Bank of Ghana End of Year Cocktail, the President said the BoG has also been an efficient currency manager, a reliable source of liquidity, and a dependable lender of last resort.

“When Covid-19 struck with its dire consequences for the country, the BoG with the support of the commercial banks, instituted the ¢3.0 billion credit and stimulus package to help revitalise industries, especially the pharmaceutical, hospitality and manufacturing sectors; and we have all seen the effects of this intervention, evidenced by the growth of the economy”.

“The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic whose effects were exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict called for some corrective measures to address the imbalances and restore stability. With the support of the BoG, macro-economic stability is being restored”, he mentioned.

He stressed that the Bank of Ghana has supported the government by providing a sound platform to underpin government’s economic diversification and transformation process.

Again, President Akufo-Addo said there is clear evidence that inflation is being contained, stating, “from 54% in December 2022 to 26.4% in November 2023; we are also witnessing sustained stability of the exchange rate”.

He added that the effective partnership between the BoG and the International Monetary Fund under the Fund programme is yielding the right results.

BoG saved the financial sector from collapse

The President also said “One of the challenges my government met when we came into power in 2017 was the state of the banking industry. Many of our banks and financial institutions were in distress and kept on unsustainable life support by the then-central bank. The supervisory agencies of the BoG were not performing their duties which allowed weak governance management structures in banks to fester”.

“We were in a desperate situation” but through the Central Bank, “radical measures had to be taken to prevent the collapse of the financial sector. The BoG under the new leadership intervened and restored sanity in the sector and the process saved the funds of ¢4.6 billion depositors fund”.

President Akufo-Addo was encouraged by the many corporate governance measures put in place by the BoG to mitigate future bank failures and ensure that Ghana has a strong banking sector to drive the agenda of transformation.

“I have also taken a keen interest in the bank’s role in the digitisation of the economy. The architecture of our payment system has been transformed completely and financial inclusion has been deepened to ensure shared growth for all Ghanaians”, he added.

All these, according to the President, make the BoG an institution of excellence, reflecting the recent international recognitions of the central bank.

“The BoG has won the central bank of the year awards two times with the governor, Dr Ernest Addison on one occasion being adjudged the central bank governor of the year”, he pointed out.

“In conclusion, I am aware this year has been challenging for the bank but with the excellent leadership and the dedicated staff of the BoG, the Bank has been able to surmount the difficulties and emerged even stronger”, he added.