We didn’t incur losses because of new head office project – BoG

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has defended its decision to continue building a new head office despite posting a significant loss of 10.50 billion cedis in 2023. The Central Bank despite the losses paid $82 million to contractors for the project last year.

The decision to press on with the construction has faced scrutiny, with MP Yusif Suleman questioning the project’s viability given the bank’s financial situation. Suleman raised the issue during a Public Accounts Committee hearing on Friday.

However, Stephen Opasa, Special Advisor to the BoG Governor, justified the continued construction, arguing that the project was too advanced to be halted. He emphasized that other factors contributed to the bank’s losses, not solely the construction project.

Opasa acknowledged the MP’s concerns but maintained that stopping the project mid-way would have been inefficient and costly due to the presence of contractors on site.

“The other alternative was to stop the project. So, I see your point in management but as I explained earlier the losses we incurred in 2023 and 2022 we know how they occurred. It is not because of this project that we incurred losses.

“I hear you that maybe we could have stopped that project to reduce the losses, but contractors were still on site and all that and therefore stopping that I am not sure whether it would have been the best decision.

“But I hear you clearly. Maybe if it was your house, you could have stopped and when things got better, you continued, but contractors were on site. This is a project that was way advanced,” he stated.

The BoG’s defense comes as the bank seeks a government bailout to recapitalize and support its policy objectives.