Vice President and Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has lauded the efforts of the Bank of Ghana in steering the country’s economy through challenging times.
In an address on Wednesday, Dr. Bawumia specifically commended the central bank for its proactive measures, which he believes played a crucial role in averting an economic crisis.
He emphasized that BoG’s actions were responsible and placed the interests of Ghanaian citizens first despite the consistent criticism from the minority.
Addressing criticisms directed at the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia asserted that the financing provided to the government by the central bank was temporary and necessary during periods of domestic and global crises.
He highlighted that in five out of the last seven years, including 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023, the Bank of Ghana had provided zero financing to the government.
“The Bank of Ghana financing to government in the COVID-19 year of 2020 and liquidity crisis year of 2022 was because of domestic and global crisis; underperforming domestic revenue and no access to international capital markets,” he added.
He also presented a series of positive economic indicators to support his assertion, including a significant decline in inflation from 54% in January to 23% in December 2023.
Additionally, he noted a rebound in economic growth, controlled spending with a decline in the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP, and a reduction in the debt to GDP ratio.
“The good news is that the data shows that the economy is recovering from the crisis we faced. Inflation has declined from 54% in January to 23% in December 2023,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia highlighted the remarkable resilience of the Ghanaian economy, pointing out that despite the challenges faced between 2020 and 2022, key economic indicators outperformed those of the 2013-2016 period when there was no global crisis.
“Economic growth is rebounding, spending is under control, the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP has declined from 10.8% in 2020 to 4.2% in 2023. The debt to GDP ratio, after increasing from 61.2% in 2019 to 76.6% in 2021 has declined to 66.4% in 2023. And exchange rate depreciation has also slowed down
sharply since February 2023, Whereas the exchange rate depreciated by 30% in 2022, between February and December 2023, it only depreciated by 9%,” he added.
Against this assertion, BoG has come under intense criticism from both the Minority and civil society.
In October last year, hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Accra, calling on the governor of the Bank of Ghana and his two deputies to resign over the loss of about 60bn Ghanaian cedis ($5.2bn; £4.3bn) in the 2022 financial year among other pertinent issues.