A former Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Professor Peter Quartey, has commended the transparency of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in disclosing its GH¢15.6 billion operating loss for the 2025 financial year, describing the openness as good for public accountability.
His comments follow the central bank’s 2025 Annual Report and Financial Statements, which showed an operating loss of GH¢15.6 billion—worsening from GH¢9.48 billion recorded in 2024. This marks the fourth consecutive year of losses, after GH¢60.9 billion in 2022 and GH¢10.5 billion in 2023.
The Bank attributed the latest loss to the high cost of its tight monetary policy stance aimed at curbing inflation.
Although total operating income rose to GH¢22.23 billion, supported by improved reserve management returns, fee income, and proceeds from bullion gold sales, expenditure pressures continued to outweigh gains.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, May 2, 2026, Prof Quartey said the disclosure should be commended, especially in comparison with practices in other countries.
“We need to commend past governors and current governors for disclosing this information,” he said.
He noted that Ghana’s economic structure—particularly its reliance on cash transactions—places significant pressure on the central bank to manage liquidity.
“We have a systemic problem, which is that we are a cash-based economy. So anytime there’s excess liquidity, the central bank has to mop that excess liquidity,” he explained.
Prof Quartey also linked the situation to the lingering effects of the domestic debt exchange programme, which he said has influenced investor behaviour and reduced appetite for long-term government securities.
“I remember that we had a debt exchange programme and some coupon rates have been paid over time. So there is quite a significant amount of injection into the system because of what happened with bonds, etc. Investors are not immediately willing to lock their money into long-term bonds,” he said.
He explained that this has left the central bank with limited options, mainly relying on open market operations to absorb excess liquidity—an intervention that comes at a cost.
“So that was the option left for the Bank of Ghana to do open market operations and mop the excess liquidity. And that comes with a cost,” he stated.
The economist stressed that while the losses appear significant, they are largely the result of policy actions aimed at stabilising the economy.
“When you incur losses for a good cause, I don’t think it is a problem. What we should look at going forward is how we minimise these losses,” he added.
Prof Quartey further observed that Ghana compares favourably in terms of transparency, noting that some central banks in other African countries do not openly disclose similar operational details.
BoG posts GH¢15.6bn operating loss to tame inflation, stabilise economy
