BoG missed 2015 targets

Bank of Ghana (BoG) missed all its projections for the first half of the year 2015, resulting in huge variances in the books of the central bank.

This revelation came to the fore when managers of the central bank appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday at their first sitting.

The PAC is currently meeting to consider the report of the Auditor-General on the statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payment of the Bank of Ghana for the half year which ended June 30, 2015.

According to the report, the BoG projected US$50 million foreign exchange receipt from manganese but only realised US$9 million.

This, the PAC considered, unavoidable, and urged the central bank to be proactive with their projections.

The BoG in an explanation insisted that they do get in touch with the mining companies to collate their projections for the year, an exercise which also informs them to do same.

However, due to volatility in the market, their projects were affected, resulting in the huge variances they are witnessing today.

“For instance, we projected US$50 million from manganese but the moment the dollar appreciated against the cedi, this projection could not be met,” they noted.

In the same vein, when there is a drop in prices of various commodities on the world market, it also has the tendency of affecting their projections.

Nevertheless, managers of the central bank said they have put measures in place to minimise the effect of the projections.