Dr. Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has firmly rejected calls by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Minority caucus for his resignation.
In an interview with the international business website, Central Banking, Dr. Addison stated that he has no intention of stepping down and characterized the NDC’s protest as “completely unnecessary.”
He is quoted as saying, “The Minority in parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilized societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” referring to the #OccupyBoG protest held on Tuesday.
The protest aimed to denounce the economic crisis attributed by the protesters to poor fiscal policies of the BoG.
Dr. Addison also refuted allegations by the Minority that he printed money to fund the ruling government’s extravagant lifestyle.
He clarified that the BoG provided monetary financing in 2020 and 2022 to address specific crises, which he asserted is legal under central bank law.
In the 2022 financial year, the Central Bank reported losses amounting to GHC60.81 billion, in contrast to a profit of GHC1.23 billion recorded in 2021.
These losses were primarily due to the government’s domestic debt restructuring efforts and the depreciation of the cedi, among other factors.
Regarding the central bank’s 2022 losses, Addison explained to Central Banking, “The impairment of the bank’s holdings of debt which led to the losses was a conditionality for the IMF program. Nobody at the Bank of Ghana forgave any debt.”
Additionally, the governor clarified that the decision to commence the construction of the new headquarters was made in 2019 when the bank was profitable and had allocated some of its profits for the new headquarters.
He emphasized, “It was not a decision taken during a crisis.”
