BoG illegally gave gov’t GHS70m – Adongo alleges

The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, has alleged that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison, has illegally given over GHS 70 billion to the government to finance maturing debts on the domestic market.

According to Mr. Adongo, the move by the central bank was contrary to the Financial Management Act.

In an interview with the media, Mr Adongo who doubles as the ranking member on the Finance Committee of Parliament reiterated his call for the resignation of Mr Addison.

Mr. Adongo added that the rise in inflation, depreciating of the cedi and worsening economic conditions is a result of policy decisions of the Governor, hence his call for his dismissal.

“There are strict rules on which the Government of Ghana can borrow from the Bank of Ghana, and the strict rules are quite clearly stating that the Bank of Ghana at any point in time should have lent more than 5 per cent of the previous revenue cumulatively.

“If you consider last year’s revenue, the Government cannot even borrow less than GHS 5 billion from the Bank of Ghana, but by the end of the year 2021, Dr Addison had illegally lent over GHS 35 billion and by May this year he had added GHS 22 billion.”

“As we speak today, Dr Addison has been financing the government and paying maturing debt obligations on the domestic market that the government cannot fund. We are currently looking at something in the region of GHS70 billion of illegal borrowing by the government of Ghana through the Bank of Ghana,” Mr Adongo told the Media on Tuesday.