Minority-led march against BoG out of 'deliberate misinterpretation' - Addison

The Bank of Ghana's "critical" support to the economy in the 2022 crisis was not only "misunderstood" but also "deliberately misinterpreted", a situation that led to attacks on the central bank culminating in a minority caucus-led demonstration against the regulator, Governor Ernest Addison has said.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Bankers' Governor's Day, Dr Addison said: "It is important to remind ourselves, as players in the global economy, that the crisis that hit the Ghanaian economy in 2022 was like what pertained in many other frontier and emerging market economies, including Egypt, Argentina, Turkey, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, just to mention a few."

He noted that these countries, except for Sri Lanka, "had built policy buffers and resilience of their key institutions provided the needed anchor to hold their economies until reform packages were introduced".

In the case of Ghana, Dr Addison pointed out that "the strong policy buffers built over time, allowed the bank to step in to support the economy until the IMF programme was concluded, because of the policy buffers built, following years of prudent management".

He said the central bank "played a critical role in supporting the economy during the crisis period with distinction".

"It is very clear the bank’s role in supporting the economy through this crisis has not been fully understood and in some cases deliberately misinterpreted", pointing out: "The Bank came under severe attack across the media space, culminating in an organised demonstration against the institution."

The minority caucus has written to the Ghana Police Service informing the law enforcement body that its 'Addison must go' demonstration has been scheduled for 5 September 2023.

In October this year, Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson said led a march against the Governor and his two deputies.

"The purpose of this protest is to express our revulsion at the illegal printing of money (about GHS80 billion) between 2021 and 2022 by the BoG for the corrupt Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government which led to a hyperinflation rate of 54.1 percent in December 2022", Dr Ato Forson explained in a statement.

"This singular act of BoG", he emphasized, "has negatively impacted livelihoods and businesses and pushed about 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty in the year 2022 alone."

The caucus said as representatives of the people, it was "totally disgusted by the crass mismanagement and reckless mishandling of the affairs of the Bank of Ghana, which resulted in a gargantuan loss of GHS60.8 billion and a negative equity of GHS55.1 in 2022 with its attendant hardships on Ghanaians."