Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called on Ghanaians to refrain from attacking the leadership of the Bank of Ghana.
The Central Bank’s leadership has been under criticism for the impairment loss of GH¢60 billion it incurred in 2022.
In an opinion article authored by Ken Ofori-Atta, he stressed that despite the losses, stringent efforts will be made to restore the balance sheet of the Bank in the medium term.
He explained that this will ensure that the BoG is operates in an efficient manner.
“As the Minister for Finance, I do have opinions about the reforms needed to strengthen the governance of many financial institutions including the Bank of Ghana. But this requires a positive and sober national debate on the governance structure; should we, for example, revisit a separate chairmanship and governorship (such was the case prior to governor Dr. Agama’s years) and whether our democracy and institutional experience support Governors playing both board leadership and management roles as enshrined in our laws,” Ofori-Atta shared.
“We also need to have the discourse for policy clarity on what the operational independence of the Central Bank implies, especially in a Lower-Middle Income Country and transformational economies such as ours. I do personally believe that Central Banks must have independence in executing their monetary policy mandate especially if it is based on a price target, where the government sets the price targets, and Central Banks, in our case, BoG, independently uses its operational tools to achieve it”, he pointed out.
The Finance Minister however defended Governor Addison who has been subject of public criticism in recent times with calls for his resignation.
“Governor Addison, just like me, has faced major economic hurdles since 2017, inheriting a derailed International Monetary Fund programme and a highly impaired and ethically strained financial industry from our predecessors, having to navigate the serious revenue shocks on the back of COVID-19 and distortions to our supply chain induced by both Covid-19 and international geopolitics”.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
