The Majority in Parliament has pushed back against claims by the Minority caucus regarding the 2025 audited financial statements of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
It accuses its opponents of misreading a technical document and creating unnecessary public alarm.
In a statement issued on Sunday, May 3, the Majority caucus said the release was intended “to restore clarity, credibility, and truth to the public discourse” surrounding the central bank’s financial position.
The Minority had argued that the Bank’s reported GH¢5.5 billion surplus was misleading. It said the figure was built on income of GH¢22.2 billion and open market operation costs of GH¢16.7 billion.
According to the Minority, the surplus depended heavily on a GH¢9.6 billion gain from the sale of gold.
It maintained that once that “one-off gain” was excluded, income would fall to GH¢12.7 billion, leaving a GH¢4 billion deficit and placing the Bank in “policy insolvency”. It further alleged that the Bank “rushed to sell 50% of gold reserves to artificially cover up this deficit.”
The Majority rejected that argument outright.
“What we have seen is a flawed interpretation of a technical document, presented in a way that risks misleading the Ghanaian public,” the statement said.
It argued that the claim reflected “a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Bank of Ghana operates” and “a selective reading of the accounts and a flawed interpretation of central bank balance sheets.”
According to the Majority, the Bank actively manages reserve assets, including gold, as part of its core mandate.
“Gains from such portfolio management are legitimate income. They are not fake because they are not recurring every year. Non-recurring does not mean illegitimate.”
The Majority also dismissed the Minority’s claim that the Bank is “not in the business of trading gold,” describing that position as “an oversimplification.”
“The Bank is not a speculative trader. But it is fully engaged in reserve management. When gold prices rise significantly, it is standard central banking practice to rebalance holdings and realise gains.”
It said this was particularly important at a time when Ghana faced external financing constraints and exchange rate pressures, adding that converting part of gold holdings into liquidity “strengthens the Bank’s operational capacity and supports macroeconomic stability.”
On the Minority’s calculation of a GH¢4 billion deficit, the Majority said “the ‘strip it out’ argument does not reflect how central bank solvency is assessed.”
“Removing the GH¢9.6 billion to construct a GH¢4 billion deficit is artificial,” it said, stressing that central banks are not commercial institutions and that policy solvency depends on “the overall balance sheet, including reserves, revaluation buffers, and sovereign backing.”
The Majority also rejected claims of a distress sale.
“The audited statements do not show any distress liquidation. What they show is measured portfolio adjustment.”
It added that Ghana has been pursuing policies to increase gold reserves through domestic gold purchase programmes, saying that “directly contradicts the narrative of depletion.”
The Majority said the broader economic context could not be ignored.
“The Bank has been operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment marked by debt restructuring, exchange rate pressures, and global financial tightening.”
“In such conditions, active balance sheet management, including asset reallocation, is not a sign of weakness. It is a necessary tool of stabilisation. This is not evidence of collapse. It is evidence of management under pressure.”
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
