Economist and political risk analyst, Dr Theo Acheampong, says it is unacceptable for the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to absolve itself of blame with regards to the GHS60 billion loss recorded in the financial sector for the 2022 fiscal year.

He noted that the Central Bank is pushing a narrative where this grave anomaly is being pinned on the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) being spearheaded by the government through the Ministry of Finance.

In an interview on JoyNews, the analyst stressed that in this current situation where probing is required, the Central Bank cannot parade itself like Pontius Pilate in the Bible, who washed off his hands over the killing of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

"During that time, in my view, it would have made sense to at least force that decision. And then subsequently, when things improve, you go back and then you look at the numbers. But the big point is there are two issues we need to discuss. The deficit financing or the root cause of the crisis that we're talking about, that leads to the almost $60 billion cutoff that the central bank is taking.

"And then there's another issue which is to do with the bank's own internal sort of operation in that context. And I think that the bigger issue for me is the deficit financing. And there are things that we need to unpack because in my view, the Bank of Ghana is behaving like Pontius Pilate in the Bible by basically washing their hands and telling us that, you know, all of this mess and all of this headcraft is fundamentally down to the finance minister and the minister of finance. And so they cannot be blamed for the crisis and the challenges that the economy has gone through," he said.

In his view, the administration of the Bank of Ghana must provide answers to the relevant authority as to how they could not prevent such a situation.

"And that's where I think substantively, we should be debating and trying to unpack whether indeed that is the case or whether the bank actually has some questions to answer when it comes to their management of the economy," he stated.

According to the Central Bank's Annual Report and Financial Statements, the loss is attributed to a decline in the Group’s net worth position due to the impact of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) and the impairment of some assets.

Again, its total liabilities and subsidiaries exceeded its total assets by ¢54.52 billion.

The Minority in Parliament is demanding the presence of Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, to answer for the 5% budget deficit financing for the government without parliamentary approval.

Also, the Minority was the Governor sacked for the alleged mismanagement of the bank.

On Dr Addison's appearance in Parliament, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has noted that no law that mandates the BoG to report its daily activities to Parliament.

Rather, he said, the law only mandates the Central Bank to report foreign exchange receipts to Parliament, and the BoG has thus always complied with this provision.

“Constitution says that if you pass any law that is inconsistent with the Constitution, that law is null and void. It is either the minority are over exaggerating issues or have not had time to examine the facts of the matter”.

“Yes, the country went through some difficulties which required that the BoG must intervene. If not for the international reserves built by the BoG, which was close to $10 billion, we would have really suffered. The BoG supported the country with about 4 billion of its 10 billion international reserves to support the situation”, he added.