Audio By Carbonatix
The Majority in Parliament has strongly pushed back against the Minority's claims that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) reversed a recovery path in 2025 due to new policy decisions.
The dispute follows the release of the central bank’s audited financial statements.
The Minority argued that losses narrowed from GH¢13.23 billion in 2023 to GH¢9.49 billion in 2024, then rose sharply to GH¢15.63 billion in 2025.
It also pointed to a worsening of negative equity by about GH¢35 billion and said that reflected a deterioration caused by a change in strategy.
But in a detailed response authored by Atta Issah, the Sagnarigu MP and a member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, the Majority said that the interpretation “mischaracterises both the trend and the drivers of the Bank of Ghana’s financial performance.”
It said, “A careful reading of the audited statements shows that the developments in 2025 are structural, policy-driven, and consistent with central banks undergoing post-crisis normalisation.”
The Majority argued that the Minority’s reading of the losses was fundamentally flawed because it treated central bank losses as commercial losses.
“The financial statements show that a significant portion of the loss arises from exchange rate revaluation effects and monetary policy operations, especially liquidity management,” the response said.
“These are policy costs. They reflect deliberate actions to stabilise inflation and the currency. They are not evidence of operational inefficiency or governance failure.”
On the claim that 2024 marked a recovery, the Majority said that the argument was “overstated.”
It acknowledged that losses narrowed in 2024 but said the improvement was influenced by “temporary exchange rate conditions” and “one-off valuation adjustments.”
“These were not structural gains,” it said, adding that the accounts themselves showed such improvements could reverse depending on macroeconomic conditions.
“Presenting 2024 as a sustained recovery path is selective and misleading.”
The Majority said the 2025 increase in losses was clearly explained in the report.
It cited “higher interest costs from open market operations used to reduce inflation,” “exchange rate and foreign currency revaluation effects,” and “ongoing legacy costs from the 2022 to 2023 crisis, including the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.”
“These are not new policy failures. They are the continuation of stabilisation measures and the lingering effects of earlier interventions.”
On negative equity, the Majority accepted that it had widened to about GH¢93.8 billion. But it insisted that “this is not a sign of insolvency.”
“Central banks can operate effectively with negative equity. The Bank remains operational due to its statutory backing and sovereign guarantee.”
The response also rejected claims of a sudden policy shift.
“The Bank’s reports show continuity in inflation targeting, exchange rate stabilisation, and alignment with the IMF-supported programme.”
“There is no evidence of a policy shift that explains the outcome the Minority is suggesting.”
It said 2025 was a “stabilisation year” in which “inflation was brought down, the exchange rate was stabilised, and fiscal consolidation continued.”
“What the Minority describes as a ‘reversal’ is, in reality, the financial cost of completing macroeconomic stabilisation. The numbers must be read in context, not in isolation.”
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