The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on the government to immediately recapitalise the Bank of Ghana and halt what he describes as dangerous policies worsening the financial position of the central bank.
Speaking in an interview on Joy News, the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP insisted that the Bank’s true losses for 2025 go far beyond the GH¢15.6 billion operating loss heavily publicised by the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its communicators.
According to him, the figures contained in the Bank of Ghana’s own audited accounts and Frequently Asked Questions document show that the central bank recorded an additional GH¢19.3 billion loss under “Other Comprehensive Income,” bringing the total comprehensive loss to GH¢34.9 billion.
“The bank’s report said they lost GH¢15.6 billion under their general operations, and then they also lost GH¢19.3 billion under other comprehensive income accounts. Together, that is GH¢34.9 billion,” he argued.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah maintained that the NDC deliberately focused public attention on the GH¢15.6 billion operating loss while ignoring the broader financial deterioration reflected in the Bank’s balance sheet.
He explained that the total GH¢34.9 billion loss was eventually deducted from the Bank’s net equity position, pushing the central bank’s negative equity from about GH¢61 billion to over GH¢96 billion.
“That tells you the true quantum of the loss that the Bank of Ghana has occasioned,” he stressed.
The former Information Minister argued that the issue was no longer about debating the figures but rather focusing on how to rescue the central bank from further deterioration.
“For us, the more important thing now is how do we recover? Where do we go from here?” he said, referencing a nine-point recovery proposal recently released by the Minority Caucus and submitted to both government and the International Monetary Fund.
The minority’s recommendations include an urgent recapitalization program, greater transparency in the Bank’s operations, reforms to gold purchase arrangements, and changes to the central bank’s monetary operations.
During the interview, Mr Oppong Nkrumah also defended the Minority’s claim that the Bank’s actual financial challenge could rise to nearly GH¢44 billion if proceeds from gold sales are factored back into the accounts.
He explained that the Bank generated about GH¢9.5 billion from the sale of roughly 50 percent of the gold reserves, which was then used to reduce the overall loss figure.
“If you add back the gold sale proceeds, you get a sense of the true size of the challenge at the central bank,” he argued.
The MP further accused the government of engaging in heavy sterilisation policies a process where the central bank removes excess liquidity from the economy at enormous cost to the Bank’s books.
According to him, the Bank sterilised approximately GH¢93 billion in 2025 through open market operations, leading to costs of about GH¢16.7 billion, much of which he claimed could have been avoided.
He argued that previous liquidity management tools introduced under the New Patriotic Party government, including the dynamic Cash Reserve Ratio system and foreign currency reserve requirements, allowed the Bank to mop up liquidity at little or no cost.
However, he said those policies were reversed under the current administration, forcing the central bank to rely on expensive interest-bearing instruments to absorb liquidity from the market.
“That’s money they could have mopped up for free, but now they are paying for it,” he stated.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah also renewed concerns over the Bank’s gold purchase programme, insisting that amendments to the structure under the current administration have created massive operational costs now sitting on the Bank’s books.
He revealed that the Minority had repeatedly called for parliamentary investigations into the gold transactions and the sale of gold reserves, but those requests had allegedly been blocked by the Majority in Parliament.
The MP dismissed claims that the Bank’s worsening negative equity was primarily caused by the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme introduced during the Akufo-Addo administration.
While acknowledging that earlier balance sheet pressures existed from previous years, he insisted that the fresh GH¢34.9 billion deterioration occurred under the current administration and was directly linked to 2025 policy decisions.
“The losses are not attributable to things that happened during the MPP era,” he argued.
He also criticised what he described as double standards by the NDC, recalling how the party strongly condemned losses incurred by the central bank during the 2022 economic crisis when it was in opposition.
“It cannot be said that the same party that called the Bank of Ghana a crime scene in 2022 now says losses of GH¢34.9 billion are acceptable,” he stated.
The Ofoase-Ayirebi MP further warned that the Bank’s policy solvency position was becoming increasingly fragile, arguing that the central bank now depends on one-off gold sales to remain operationally solvent.
Referring to figures contained in the Bank’s accounts, he noted that the central bank recorded GH¢9.5 billion from gold sales in 2025 revenue, which he described as non-recurring.
“In 2024, the bank did not need to sell gold to remain policy solvent. In 2025, they needed to sell gold to survive. A central bank that needs to sell assets to remain policy solvent is living on borrowed time,” he cautioned.
Despite his criticisms, Mr Oppong Nkrumah stopped short of accusing the central bank of outright mismanagement, saying the Minority’s focus has consistently been on exposing the implications and costs of government policies.
“We have not accused them of mismanagement. We have been exposing what they have been doing and the cost of those actions,” he clarified.
He concluded by urging the government to abandon what he described as denial and urgently implement credible reforms to restore the Central Bank’s financial health before the situation deteriorates further.
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