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The Majority in Parliament has dismissed claims by the Minority that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) understated its 2025 financial loss, maintaining that the central bank’s audited accounts are accurate and comply fully with established accounting standards.
The rebuttal follows allegations from the Minority that the BoG’s actual loss significantly exceeds the reported GH¢15.6 billion. According to the opposition, incorporating other comprehensive income (OCI) raises the figure to GH¢34.9 billion, while adjusting for gains from gold sales pushes it close to GH¢44 billion.
The Minority further alleged that certain gold transactions and accounting treatments were used to obscure the true scale of the losses.
However, the Majority, through Sagnarigu MP Atta Issah, a member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, rejected the claims as unfounded.
“The audited financial statements clearly report a loss for the year of GH¢15.63 billion,” the Majority said in a statement. “This figure is derived from total operating income of GH¢22.28 billion and total operating expenses of GH¢37.91 billion. It is the official audited loss, presented in accordance with applicable accounting standards—not a politically constructed number.”
The Majority also opposed the Minority’s attempt to combine the annual loss with OCI, explaining that OCI comprises non-cash items such as unrealised valuation changes, exchange rate movements, and reserve remeasurements.
“Profit or loss and other comprehensive income are distinct components,” the statement noted. “These are non-cash and do not reflect operating performance or distributable losses. OCI is reported separately and cannot be merged to create an alternative loss figure.”
Addressing the contentious gold transaction, the Majority said the GH¢9.57 billion gain from the sale of refined gold was properly disclosed and audited.
“This is not artificial revenue,” the caucus stated. “It is a realised gain from asset reallocation. Central banks routinely manage reserves, including gold. Rebalancing assets and realising gains is standard practice.”
The Majority described the Minority’s GH¢44 billion estimate as “methodologically flawed,” arguing that it involves double counting valuation effects already captured in OCI, excluding legitimate realised income, and constructing a metric not recognised under any accounting framework.
“There is no audited or recognised figure called ‘underlying loss’ calculated in this manner,” the statement added.
The exchange has also highlighted the Bank’s worsening negative equity position, which rose from approximately GH¢61 billion to GH¢93 billion. The Majority cautioned against interpreting this as a single-year operating loss.
“It reflects cumulative balance sheet effects, including the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, monetary policy operations, and exchange rate valuation changes,” the caucus explained.
According to the Majority, the financial statements clearly outline the primary drivers of the losses, including GH¢16.7 billion in open market operation costs, exchange rate impacts, and gold-related valuation adjustments.
“These are the result of policy measures aimed at stabilising the economy,” the statement said. “They do not indicate misreporting but rather represent the cost of those interventions.”
Concluding its response, the Majority stressed that the issue is one of interpretation rather than transparency.
“Nothing is hidden. The audited accounts are clear, and disclosures are complete. The numbers speak for themselves. What is required is careful reading, not selective interpretation,” the statement said.
source: myjoyonline.com