The Bank of Ghana recorded a profit of ¢1.23 billion in 2021, lower than ¢1.57 billion was recorded in 2020, its 2021 Audited Financial Statement has revealed.

Out of the income, ¢981.4 million has been set aside to purchase gold and other foreign assets.

The statement further said an amount of ¢372.11 million (2020: ¢403.37million) has also been set aside as approved appropriations from reserves for gold acquisition, asset replacement, contingencies, emergency interventions, corporate social responsibility, and others.

According to the financial statement, the Central Bank bagged ¢3.46 billion from interest income, whilst ¢209.6 million was earned from fees and commissions in 2021.

However, it recorded an operating expense of ¢3.75 billion, lower than ¢4.28 billion registered in 2020.

Also, the regulator of the banking industry spent ¢179 million on currency management in 2021 including printing of money. This is against ¢347.8 million recorded in 2020.

In terms of assets of the Central Bank, it has ¢3.08 billion in gold investments, whilst balances with the International Monetary Fund stood at ¢11.8 billion in 2021. This is compared with ¢3.07 billion and ¢5.76 billion in 2020 respectively.

For liabilities, liabilities to the IMF stood at ¢16.6 billion in 2021, relatively same as ¢16.01 billion in 2020.

¢25.2 billion cash was in circulation in 2021, compared with ¢23.3 billion in 2020.

In terms of going concern, the statement said “the Directors, therefore, have a reasonable expectation that the Bank has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus, the going concern basis has been adopted in preparing the annual financial statements of the Bank and the Group.”

Meanwhile, the Directors of the Bank of Ghana did not recommend the payment of dividend for 2021, same as the previous year.