“It’ll Take 45 Years to Recover”: Ghana’s Central Bank Records $5bn Loss Amid $3bn IMF Loan
- The Bank of Ghana has recorded one of the worst losses in history of $5.2 billion
- The report has caused widespread protests in the capital, Accra, Ghana, with opposition parties calling for the resignation of the bank’s management
- They accuse the Bank of Ghana’s Governor of financial recklessness and impropriety
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Ghana’s apex bank has reported a loss of 60 billion Ghanaian cedis, about $5.2 billion, during the 2022 financial year.
A BBC report says the report has sparked protests across the country’s capital, Accra, with citizens calling for the resignation of Ghana’s Central Bank Governor, Earnest Addison, and his assistants last week.
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Bank's loss sparks massive protests
The protests, captioned #OccupyBoG, were organized by the country’s opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.
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Protesters wore red shirts, scarves, and berets and expressed their disaffection via chants and carrying placards.
Professor Godfred Bokpin of the University of Ghana told the BBC that the country has never witnessed such and will take over 45 years to recover.
The country is currently beset with one of the worst financial crises in decades.
It has been darting back and forth from the International Monetary Fund begging to negotiate loan terms, leading to the IMF releasing about $600 million out of the $3 billion loan requested by the West African country.
Ghana records highest inflation in Africa
The country’s inflation is one of the highest in the world at 50% and recently revised to 40.1%. The government is also neck-deep in debt of $55 billion.
Analysts say the country will spend about 70% of its revenue on debt servicing this year.
The opposition NDC has accused the apex bank management of financial recklessness and illegality.
The party alleged that the bank spent about $762,000 on domestic and foreign travel, an increase of 87% when compared to the 2021 figure.
Protesters accuse bank management of recklessness
They also claim that the bank squandered about $250 million on a new office building, the bank’s financial report said.
According to the opposition, the bank also advanced the government with a loan of $700 million, which the government could not repay.
The country’s financial regulator has been accused of abuse by the government of President Nana Kufo Addo.
The act establishing the bank states that it must not lend more than five per cent of the previous year’s fiscal revenue, as anything beyond that is illegal.
The country currently secured a $3 billion loan from the IMF over three years.
The facility comes with many concessions, such as debt restructuring, which reduced its interest payment and increased the tenure of its debt.
CBN declares highest profit in 5 years as naira exchange rate gets closer to N1000 per dollar
Legit.ng reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared a massive profit of N103.85 billion after-tax payment obligation in 2022.
This represents a 38.24% increase in profit compared to the N75.12 billion recorded the previous year.
The apex bank disclosed the figures in its latest financial statements on its website obtained by Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
