Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of (BoG) says the decision to construct new headquarters was not made during a crisis but when the bank was profitable and had allocated some of its profits for the new headquarters.
He made this statement after his refusal to resign despite numerous calls from opposition parties and several other Ghanaians.
He said the decision was taken in 2019 when the country was doing good and the Bank making profits so it was a decision taken years back and resources were allocated for that.
Dr Addison stated that he had no intention of stepping down and characterized the NDC’s protest as “completely unnecessary.”
“The Minority in parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilised societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” this statement was made in reference to the #OccupyBoGProtest that took place on Tuesday.
The which protest aimed to criticise the economic crisis attributed by the protesters to the poor fiscal policies of the BoG.
He explained that the BoG provided monetary financing in 2020 and 2022 to address specific crises, which he describes as legal under central bank law.
Dr Addison also refuted allegations by the Minority that he printed money to fund the ruling government’s extravagant lifestyle.
In the 2022 financial year, the Central Bank reported losses amounting to GHC60.81 billion, in contrast to a profit of GHC1.23 billion recorded in 2021.
These losses were primarily due to the government’s domestic debt restructuring efforts and the depreciation of the cedi, among other factors.
Regarding the central bank’s 2022 losses, Addison explained to Central Banking, “The impairment of the bank’s holdings of debt which led to the losses was a conditionality for the IMF program.
