A public claim by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiamah, that the country has “built buffers” to withstand global economic shocks has drawn fire from critics who say the central bank’s actions suggest the opposite.
Dr. Asiamah, speaking at a press briefing in Accra, sought to assure Ghanaians that the economy was insulated against volatility stemming from escalating tensions in the Middle East. “We have built buffers,” he stated, offering the phrase as a symbol of institutional readiness and fiscal strength.
But that assurance has landed awkwardly among some policy observers and political commentators, who argue the claim does not square with recent developments—chief among them, the government’s own decision to suspend a major economic levy just days after its announcement.
P.K. Sarpong, a frequent voice in policy/ governance commentary, responded with withering scepticism, questioning how the government could plausibly claim to have constructed any economic resilience in the space of just five months. “You only read your budget in March,” he noted pointedly, adding that the “buffer” claim seemed designed more to project competence than to reflect actual institutional stability.
“If you have built buffers, why have you suspended the implementation of your own 1 cedi on a litre levy?” he asked. “Your buffer is weak, and that is why you hurriedly suspended the levy.”
The critique comes on the heels of a sudden halt in the rollout of a newly introduced 1 cedi on a litre of fuel levy, which had been pitched as a fiscal tool to manage emerging pressures in the energy sector. Though the government has not directly linked the suspension to geopolitical tensions or macroeconomic instability, observers say the timing reflects nervousness at the heart of Ghana’s economic management machinery.
Sarpong argued that the claim of resilience was a thin political veil, intended to rally support from party loyalists. “It is only your gullible supporters who will believe this statement and clap for you like seals,” he wrote.
He went further to suggest that if not for the economic foundation laid by the previous administration, the current leadership would have faltered under the weight of just a week’s external pressure. “I still maintain that these people are doing nothing,” he concluded. “They have not introduced any policies that are strong to help solidify the sound foundation laid by the former government.”
Neither the Ministry of Finance nor the Bank of Ghana has formally responded to the criticism.
Yet the episode once again highlights a growing credibility gap in Ghana’s economic discourse, where policy declarations often collide with the hard constraints of governance and global economics. With Middle East tensions continuing to affect global oil markets and inflation outlooks, domestic confidence may soon depend less on press statements—and more on whether the so-called buffers actually hold
