Parliament must act quickly on alleged GH¢22bn notes printed without approval – Kofi Amoah

Finance Minister delivers 2022 mid-year budget review

Minority accuses government of colluding with BoG to print new cedi notes

Bank of Ghana engaged in an illegal act – Dr Ato Forson alleges

Businessman, Dr. Kofi Amoah, has called on parliament to quickly act to probe the alleged collusion between the

Read full articlegovernment and the Bank of Ghana to print new cedi notes without parliamentary approval.

The call comes on the back of an allegation made by the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, who asserted that the central bank has printed a sum of GH¢22 billion without the proper approval.

He further alleged that the cedi notes were printed between January and June 2022 on the orders of the government acting through Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

He said this important information is hidden on page 97 of Appendix 2a of the Mid-year budget under the section on Bank of Ghana.

“They have printed GH¢22 billion fresh money without the knowledge of Parliament and without informing all of us,” he said while addressing the press on Monday.

Reacting to the development, Dr. Kofi Amoah suggested that the House must immediately constitute a Committee that will be granted powers to subpoena the alleged parties involved and take strict action on the matter.

“Parliament Must Act. If the assertion that BoG has printed GHS22 billion without the proper approvals, Parliament should immediately constitute a Committee, give it subpoena powers to probe and find out what happened, and for wrongdoers to be punished, please,” he wrote on Twitter.



Meanwhile, the minority in parliament have described the act as illegal and against the Bank of Ghana Act.

Dr. Ato Forson also linked the surge in Ghana’s inflation to the alleged GH¢22 billion notes printed by the central bank.

“If this trend continues, I won’t be surprised that we will end the year with inflation of about 50 percent.

“I am saddened, no wonder inflation is galloping, no wonder that our reserves position is dwindling. Because when you create new money out of the thin air, what happens is that inflation will go up and obviously because it is new money, you will end up losing your reserves because there would be new consumption,” the lawmaker stressed.

“I want to urge the Governor of the central bank that he has engaged in gross illegality and in future if he is asked to print money, he should first come to Parliament before he acts,” Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson added.



MA/BOG