Dr Johnson Asiama is the Governor of the Bank of Ghana
Attempts to establish political equivalence in the controversy over Ghana’s Gold for Reserves Policy appear to be faltering after the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Asiama, failed to produce documentary evidence supporting claims that the policy has consistently incurred losses since its inception.
Speaking before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the BoG Governor stated that the Gold for Reserves Policy—introduced to stabilise the cedi, had been fraught with losses from the outset.
He suggested that recent losses highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were therefore not unprecedented.
However, PAC Chairperson Abena Osei-Asare challenged the Governor to point to where such losses were reflected in the Bank’s audited accounts.
She noted that while a reported loss of about GH¢1.8 billion appeared in BoG’s published financial statements, earlier losses allegedly incurred in 2024 could not be traced in the official reports.
“Governor, I want you to show us clearly in the accounts where these losses were recorded. The Ghana cedis GH¢1.8 billion loss appears in your audited accounts, but the earlier losses you refer to cannot be found in the reports,” the Chairperson stated.
In response, Dr. Asiama requested additional time to review records and provide the Committee with the relevant evidence.
The Gold for Reserves Policy has been at the centre of public debate following a recent IMF report indicating that the programme recorded losses exceeding US$214 million within its first eight months.
This prompted members of the Minority on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, led by Ranking Member Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, to call for a parliamentary committee to conduct a public investigation.
Initial responses from both GoldBod and BoG dismissed the IMF’s claims as speculative. The Bank later acknowledged that certain costs had been incurred under the policy, while GoldBod argued that similar or higher losses had been recorded during the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
The controversy also prompted investigative reporting by Asempa FM’s Eko Sii Sen, which filed a Right to Information (RTI) request seeking details on profits and losses under the Gold for Reserves framework since its inception.
Responses from BoG confirmed that losses had indeed been recorded during that period.
Despite this, at Monday’s PAC sitting, the Governor was unable to provide detailed documentation to substantiate his claim that similar losses had occurred previously, even when prompted directly by the Committee Chair.
This development has reinforced concerns among critics that the ongoing dispute is being framed as a political contest of blame, rather than a transparent accounting of the Gold for Reserves Policy’s financial performance.
Source:
www.ghanaweb.com