Dr. Gideon Boako
Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Gideon Boako, says the GH¢15.6 billion loss incurred by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is unacceptable despite evidence of recent gains of macroeconomic stability.
Dr. Boako said economic stability in 2025 should not come at such a high financial cost to the Central Bank during a news programme over the weekend.
BoG in its 2025 Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, reported an operating loss of GH¢15.6 billion for the 2025 financial year, an increase from the GH¢9.48 billion loss recorded in 2024.
The Central Bank lost GH¢60.9 billion in 2022 and GH¢10.5 billion in 2023 marking the fourth consecutive year of financial strain.
The loss is attributable to the high cost of the Bank’s aggressive monetary policy stance aimed at controlling inflation.
But the MP for Tano North raised concerns about the approach used to achieve those results in terms of stabilising the economy.
“I can recognise that there is some level of stability but the cost of this stability is unacceptable, because you don’t need to incur huge losses before you can stabilise your economy.”
He also explained that the country has previously experienced periods of strong economic performance without imposing significant financial challenge on the Central Bank.
He said between 2017 and 2019, the country recorded sustained growth, single-digit inflation for nearly two years, and improved fiscal balances without the kind of losses being reported now.
“We had growth moving from about 3.4% to an average of about 7% for three consecutive years. We had about 24 months of single-digit inflation and recorded a primary balance surplus. There was stability, but we did not incur these huge losses,” he stated.
While acknowledging that the economic shocks between 2020 and 2022 required policy interventions, including aggressive inflation control measures, Dr. Boako mentioned that the scale of losses were not as huge as such the recent loss recorded by the Central Bank and must thus be scrutinised.
He stated, “Yes, there was a crisis, and measures had to be taken. But containing the crisis does not mean we should accept any level of cost without question”.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah