Hold BoG accountable for illegally writing off GH¢48bn govt debt – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has accused the Bank of Ghana (BoG) of illegally writing off approximately GH¢48 billion of government debt.

According to the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Central Bank has become insolvent as a result.

He said this during the final debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Monday, March 11, 2024.

“The Bank of Ghana is now bankrupt and exists merely in name. In 2022, the Central Bank recorded a colossal loss of over GHS60.8 billion and a negative equity of over GHS55 billion.

“The Governor of the Bank of Ghana and his two deputies illegally and excessively printed money to finance the government’s over-bloated expenditures. Mr Speaker, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and his two deputies, without recourse to Parliament, wrote off about GHS 48.4 billion of government debt,” Dr Ato Forson alleged.

He added that the Governor and his two deputies must be held accountable for these “cardinal sins” however long it takes.

This follows BoG’s revelation that banks in Ghana wrote off GH¢4.33 billion as bad debt in 2023.

The bank said this was a 79.2% reduction over that of 2022. In 2022, the total bad debt was estimated at GH¢20.8 billion.

The bad debt was classified as loan losses, depreciation, and others.