Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has firmly rejected calls from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Minority caucus in Parliament for his resignation.
In an interview with an international business news website Central Banking, as quoted by citinewsroom, Dr. Addison stated that he has no intention of stepping down and characterized the NDC’s protest as “completely unnecessary.”
He criticized how the Minority in Parliament chose to express their grievances, referring to the #OccupyBoGProtest as a street demonstration by “hooligans.”
“The demonstration yesterday was completely unnecessary,” Addison said, adding that neither he nor his deputies intend to step down.
“The Minority in parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilised societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” he added.
On Tuesday, thousands of protestors took to the streets of Accra to protest what the demonstrators viewed as an economic crisis caused by what they described as the BoG’s poor fiscal policy.
Dr Addison also refuted allegations by the Minority that he had printed money to fund the extravagant lifestyle of the ruling government. He explained that the BoG had provided monetary financing in 2020 and 2022 to address specific crises, which he argued is within the bounds of the central bank law.
In the 2022 financial year, the Central Bank reported losses totalling GHC60.81 billion, a stark contrast to the GHC1.23 billion profit recorded in 2021. These losses were primarily attributed to the government’s domestic debt restructuring efforts and the depreciation of the cedi, among other factors.
Regarding the central bank’s losses in 2022, Dr Addison clarified that the impairment of the bank’s debt holdings, which led to the losses, was a conditionality for the IMF program. He emphasized that no debts were forgiven by the Bank of Ghana.
Additionally, the governor addressed the construction of the new BoG headquarters, stating that the decision to begin the project was made in 2019 when the bank was profitable. The funding for the headquarters came from the bank’s profits.
“It was not a decision taken during a crisis,” he added.
