What Ken Ofori-Atta said about the construction of a new Bank of Ghana HQ

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has waded into the controversy surrounding the new headquarters building for the Bank of Ghana currently under construction.

The Minority in Parliament and the Central Bank have been trading responses over the development which has also been a subject of criticisms by a section of the public.

The Minority believe that in the wake of the BoG’s impairment losses of GH¢60 billion recorded for 2022, it would not be prudent for the construction of a new headquarters.

But the Central Bank has occasionally argued that structural integrity assessments which have been conducted, determined that the current location of the its headquarters is not-fit-for purpose.

Reacting to this in an opinion article authored by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta pointed out that the evidence is clear that decisions to build a new BoG headquarters had already been made long before these impairment “losses” occurred.

"With respect to the BoG’s new headquarters, the evidence is clear that decisions to build had already been made long before these 'losses' occurred.

It is important for us to support such a critical institution to modernize its operations and have a befitting office space for a country that hosts the AfCFTA and has a vision to become the financial services hub of the continent," Ken Ofori-Atta shared.

Meanwhile, BoG Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, has described the losses incurred in 2022 as technical while arguing that the Central Bank had to step in to salvage the economy from an imminent collapse at the height of the economic crisis that the country was faced with.

The Central Bank Governor added that a majority of the impairment losses culminated from haircuts associated with government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme which saw it take about 50 percent of the loss.

MA/NOQ

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