Lawyer and Senior Vice President of IMANI Center for Policy & Education (Imani Africa) Kofi Bentil has expressed his curiosity regarding the Bank of Ghana's (BoG) substantial losses, as the bank, in its announcement, stated that it does not engage in trading activities like commercial banks.

In 2022, the Bank of Ghana disclosed a loss of GHC 55.12 billion, primarily attributed to the implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). The program was initiated to restructure the Government's domestic debt during an economic crisis, aiming to achieve debt sustainability and fulfill the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

As an example, the bank reported experiencing a 50% reduction in the value of Government financial instruments, including long-term stocks, COVID-19 bonds, and overdrafts.

“I’m having a hard time understanding how you can make such losses when you don’t trade like a commercial bank, please explain again slowly so I can understand,” he demanded on social media.

“Of course central can run into ‘profit’ and ‘loss’. Central banks can earn income from various sources, such as the interest earned from holding government securities or income generated from foreign exchange reserves.

Nonetheless, any income generated by a central bank usually goes toward supporting its stated objectives and maintaining its operations, rather than being distributed as profits to shareholders or investors.

'In the case of Ghana, your reserves are in the negatives and government securities are used in paying debts. So what do you expect from the BoG? Loss?” Fidelis Abagulum replied.

The announcement of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on the losses it made in 2022 continues to generate discussions on both social media and mainstream media.