Response to Parliament’s Minority Group on Bank of Ghana’s 2022 Published Annual Report and Financial Statements

Comparing 2022 financial performance with 2021, without taking cognizance of the economic situation in the country is misleading. The year 2022 was the peak of economic and social crisis in Ghana. A culmination of fiscal overruns and debt distress resulted in Ghana losing access to both international and domestic markets. The Rating agencies downgraded Ghana to the junk category with huge macroeconomic imbalances. The cedi depreciated sharply from GHC6 to the dollar at the end of 2021 to almost GHC13.1 to the dollar at the end of November 2022 until it came down to about GHC8.57 to the dollar at the end of December 2022 (resulting in about 30 percent on a year-on-year basis and averaged 31.13%). Similarly, inflation rose from an average of 12.62 percent at the end of December 2021 to 54.14 percent at the end of December 2022. These developments had a significant impact on the operations of the Bank and every other entity in the country. A year-on-year comparison of the financial statement of all entities in Ghana would reveal this sharp jumps.