The Ranking Member on Parliament's Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson to account for what he describes as a $1.2 billion decline in Ghana's international reserves when he presents the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament on Thursday, July 23.

Contributing to a debate on a report on monetary policy, macroeconomic developments and the performance of the banking sector on Wednesday, July 22, the former Information Minister questioned the reduction in the country's reserves despite government's insistence that it was not undertaking foreign exchange market interventions.

"$1.2 billion of our reserves is gone. What have you used it for? Because you have told us that you are not doing intervention and that it is proceeds from the forex market that you're pumping," Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.

"We expect that when the Finance Minister shows up on Thursday, July 23, he will tell us where this $1.2 billion has gone to. Because we cannot continue with this exercise of continuously intervening and calling it intermediation, while reducing the reserves of this Republic."

He further questioned the government's gold accumulation strategy, saying, "We cannot continue... reducing reserves of this Republic, while at the backend, we're just buying gold, whose sources are questionable for this enterprise."

However, he commended the Bank of Ghana for ending its financing of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).

Meanwhile, the First Deputy Minority Whip and Member of Parliament for Tolon, Habib Iddrisu, cautioned the Finance Minister against seeking additional funding in the mid-year budget review.

He argued that the government had yet to fulfil key policy commitments, including the rollout of the 24-hour economy, the establishment of the Women's Development Bank and job creation programmes, despite funds previously allocated to support those initiatives.