The facade of a “recovering” central bank has come crashing down. In a blistering Sunday afternoon press conference, the Minority in Parliament—led by the sharp-tongued MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah—has exposed what they describe as a masterclass in financial deception by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
While the BoG’s 2025 Annual Report attempted to soften the blow by announcing an operating loss of GH¢15.6 billion, the Minority is sounding the alarm: the situation is nearly three times worse than the public is being told.
As someone who has covered the fiscal gymnastics of this NDC administration since they took over the Jubilee House, this latest revelation is a “smoking gun.” It proves that the “Reset” we were promised is nothing more than a cosmetic cover-up for a central bank that is effectively drowning in red ink.
The Anatomy of a Cover-Up: “Artificial Recognition”
Oppong Nkrumah was clinical in his takedown. He alleged that the BoG employed “clever accounting” to hide the true scale of its failure. By moving massive chunks of the deficit into a category called “Other Comprehensive Income” (OCI), the bank essentially shifted its losses into a dark corner of the balance sheet where they wouldn’t reflect in the headline operating loss.
“The government says the loss is GH¢15.6 billion. The true operating loss of the Bank is actually GH¢34.9 billion,” Oppong Nkrumah revealed. He didn’t stop there. He pointed out that the bank even tried to use GH¢9.6 billion in gold sale proceeds to mask the bleeding. “If you add back those proceeds, the recalculated loss is actually GH¢44 billion.”
A Four-Year Death Spiral
This isn’t just a one-off bad year; it is a chronic, four-year death spiral under the current leadership:
- 2022: GH¢60.9 billion loss
- 2023: GH¢10.5 billion loss
- 2024: GH¢9.48 billion loss
- 2025: GH¢44 billion (True loss according to Minority)
For any private institution, this level of consecutive hemorrhaging would lead to immediate liquidation and criminal investigations. Yet, the BoG Governor continues to preside over the “hollowing out” of our national reserve, propped up by an NDC government that treats the central bank as its private piggy bank.
The Cost of “Political Mining”
The most damning part of Oppong Nkrumah’s exposé is the misuse of gold. Instead of the “Gold for Oil” or “Gold Purchase” programs serving as a buffer for the Cedi, the proceeds are being used as a fiscal band-aid to cover up administrative incompetence. Using gold sales to make a GH¢44 billion loss look like GH¢15 billion is the height of economic dishonesty.
The Minority’s verdict is clear: the BoG has lost its moral and financial authority. When the referee of the financial system starts “cooking the books,” the entire economy is at risk.
The Minority has demanded a full, independent forensic audit of the 2025 statements. If the true loss is indeed GH¢44 billion, the BoG isn’t just “in a deficit”—it is insolvent. The question now is: how much longer can the Mahama administration keep the lights on with “voodoo” numbers before the reality of a bankrupt central bank hits the Ghanaian pocketbook.
