Parliament on Wednesday took the Bank of Ghana Bill through the seconding with members declaring massive support for it.
The Bill sought to make the central bank out of governmental control and to vest requisite powers into it to perform its functions effectively. It also reconfirmed the Bank of Ghana's role in credit control by endowing it with power, upon notifying the Minister of Finance, to use any instrument of control at its disposal to counteract any unusual movements in the money supply and to maintain and promote a balanced growth of the economy.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, in summing up the debate on the bill said by that power the Bank of Ghana could not spend any money without seeking parliamentary approval.
He said even in emergencies the bank and the Accountant-General and the Minister of Finance had to confer before coming to Parliament for any expenditure. The House adopted the report from the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation on the Unit Trust and Mutual Fund Regulations 2001, LI 1695.
It also adopted the report on the joint committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Health on the National AIDS Commission Bill. The report between Ghana and United States on an agreement to co-operate in narcotics control in which the US would support the later with 384,000 dollars was also adopted.
