Minority Accuses Addison Of Over-Financing Gov’t Budget

The Minority in Parliament has accused the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison of over-financing the budget of the government since 2020.

At a press conference, the Minority made the claim and blamed the Central Bank for the surge in inflation rate the country has been recording.

“We are also aware that the Bank of Ghana is heavily financing the budget which itself is contributing to the rising and unacceptable rise in inflation levels in our country.

“I wish to reiterate my call to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to respect the laws and for the Minister of Finance to come to Parliament to regularise all overdrafts and loans taken from the Bank of Ghana and to keep it within the requirements of the Bank of Ghana Amendment Act that requires that in case of emergency financing, government shall not exceed 5% of the total revenue of the previous year.

“We are aware that for 2020, 2021 to 2022, the Bank of Ghana has over financed the Minister for Finance and the government”, the Member of Parliament for Tamale South and Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu said.

In July this year, after the presentation of the Mid-year budget, the Minority made a similar allegation against the BoG to the effect that the Bank had printed 22.04 billion to finance Government’s budget without Parliamentary approval

The allegation was however denied by the Bank in a Statement.

“The amount of GHC 22.04 billion represents net claims on Government, and not new currency printed to support the Government’s budget”, it said.

It explained that the net claim has four components including GoG Stocks and bonds sold by commercial banks to Bank of Ghana under repurchase agreements by which banks routinely manage their liquidity positions; IMF SDR allocation disbursed to Government through Bank of Ghana; Draw-down of Government’s own deposits held with Bank of Ghana; and Negative balance on Government’s account with Bank of Ghana at a point in time, and selfliquidated as new Government deposits are credited to the account.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini