Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has criticised the Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy approach, warning that excessive intervention in the foreign exchange market could undermine long-term stability.
His comments come in the wake of the central bank’s 2025 financial statement, which have triggered renewed debate over the sustainability and effectiveness of its policy measures.
Speaking on The Point of View on Channel One TV on Monday, May 4, 2026, Mr Simons argued that while the Bank of Ghana has a duty to stabilise the currency and inflation, its approach appears overly aggressive relative to prevailing economic conditions.
“The other thing I also think is critical is we shouldn’t completely excuse the monetary side because the monetary side has the duty to set the right and realistic levels for cedi value and for inflation. I genuinely believe that the Bank of Ghana has been somewhat too aggressive than the conditions warrant in its ability to paint a certain degree of stability in the currency. You have to have that mindset, but you also have to respond to real dynamics in the economy,” he said.
He cautioned that the central bank’s strategy of heavy intervention—particularly through the accumulation of foreign reserves and gold purchases—may not be sustainable if not carefully calibrated.
“If the real dynamics in the economy are such that you’re struggling to keep up, then you’re going to have this situation where you’re trying to buy so much gold because you need so much more dollars to intervene. You need some dollars to intervene, but what level of dollars do you need to intervene?” he questioned.
Mr Simons revealed that he has previously engaged the Bank of Ghana on the need to model an appropriate level of intervention in the foreign exchange market, noting that a lack of clear policy guidance could pose risks.
“I have personally talked to the Bank of Ghana and asked them to model the right level of intervention that makes sense, knowing very well that it’s very difficult but there has to be an attempt because this thing where you say we have unlimited capacity to intervene in the foreign exchange market is not credible,” he said.
He warned that claims of unlimited intervention capacity could expose the central bank to speculative pressure in more volatile market environments.
“In other markets, this will signal that the Bank of Ghana is ripe for attack because it can’t have unlimited capacity to intervene in the foreign exchange market. Rather, we don’t know the policy guidance on that. Does it really have unlimited capacity or not?” he added.
Mr Simons stressed the need for the central bank to strike a balance between maintaining stability and responding to underlying economic realities, cautioning that failure to do so could weaken confidence in its policy framework.
