Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, a governance expert and the President of IMANI Ghana, has called for officials of the Bank of Ghana to refund the GH¢ 60.8 billion loss incurred in 2022.
Mr. Cudjoe highlighted a legal constraint that restricts the central bank from expenditures exceeding 5% of the previous fiscal year's total revenue, asserting that the bank's officials transgressed this law and should be held accountable by repaying the sum.
In an interview, Mr. Cudjoe emphasized that accountability should involve more than resignations, advocating for financial restitution: “I would call for a refund, probably a significant amount of refund to the state by these bank officials. Just calling for a resignation is not enough.”
Responding to calls from the Minority in Parliament for the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, and his deputies to resign over the 2022 financial loss, Mr. Cudjoe expressed dissatisfaction with the mere resignation demand, asserting that a portion of the loss should be repaid by the officials as well.
Disputing the bank's explanation attributing the loss to loans extended to the Government of Ghana and the Domestic Debt Exchange Program, Cudjoe questioned the central bank's disregard for established financial regulations: “There is a clear law, you decide to break it with so much impunity, you decide to break the financial code.”
Drawing a parallel with charges faced by the owners of defunct Capital Bank for similar offences, Mr. Cudjoe underscored the need for equitable consequences: “We are still suffering as a result of the Domestic Debt Exchange Program, but I am sure we can't just waste money like that… You should not have done that and it should have even been done within the law.”
The Bank of Ghana attributed the GH¢ 60.8 billion loss in its 2022 fiscal report to various factors, including impairment of government securities holdings, loans to quasi-government and financial institutions, and exchange rate depreciation resulting from the Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
