John Kumah 'rubbishes' claims by Minority that Bank of Ghana is being collapsed

John Kumah, a Deputy Minister for Finance, has rubbished claims by the NDC Minority in Parliament that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is being collapsed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

According to him, the BoG is solid. He also debunked the unsubstantiated allegations that the government is in the process of introducing a recapitalization levy for the resuscitation of the BoG.

The Minority in Parliament, led by the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, held a press conference to lash out at the government, demanding among other things the resignation (within 21 days) of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana over alleged mismanagement of the nation’s central bank.

However, responding to the Minority, the Deputy Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the Ejisu Constituency, John Kumah, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, that their allegations describing same are untrue.

“It's not true that a recapitalization levy is to be introduced for BoG, the Central Bank hasn't collapsed,” he stated.

The deputy minister however acknowledged that the Bank may be going through some temporary challenges occasioned largely by the decline in government transactions in the nature of fees and charges on all government transfers.

He observed that since government transactions, which are the main source of income for the BoG, have gone down, naturally, the income of the bank will also go down.

Also, because of the recent debt restructuring, earnings on the bank’s holdings on markable and non-marketable bonds had gone down.

“Beyond this, the Bank is solid and is capable of performing its core function. Article 183 clause 2 (c) of the 1992 constitution enjoins the Bank of Ghana to promote and encourage economic development in the country, hence there is nothing untoward in the actions of the Central Bank to support the state in its economic recovery efforts,” he added.

The Ejisu Member of Parliament further emphasized that a negative balance sheet in the books of a central bank is not unusual.

In fact, he added, most central banks around the world run negative balances to achieve the overall economic anchor objectives of the institution.

He advised the Minority to desist from indulging in such propaganda and unwarranted attacks at the nation’s central bank because such posture could only result in increased market volatility, panic selling of assets, and trigger a chain of events that can affect the country's overall economic stability.



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