The Minority in Parliament has threatened to drag the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ernest Addison to Parliament for breaching the Bank of Ghana Act in respect of financing government expenditure.
According to the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson, the Central Bank has so far printed 5.5 billion Ghana cedis to fund government expenditure.
This he says is illegal and could further increase the levels of inflation in the country.
Addressing the media after presenting items to fight COVID-19 to his constituents, the Ajumako Enyan Essiam MP implored the Governor to desist from what he called illegal acts.
“The Bank of Ghana has started printing money for the government- financing government operations. As we speak, they have printed 5.5 billion Ghana cedis for government and the Governor sounded as part of the monetary policy committee meeting that they are going to even print more. Do you know what it means? It is inflation and inflation steals from you and me.”
“I want to caution him that they should stop financing the Ministry of Finance against the law. We want to caution the Governor of the Central Bank that there are consequences to his action. If today he is not questioned, tomorrow he will be questioned. Parliament will not sit aloof for him to disregard the acts of this country. I will personally write to the Chairman of the Finance Committee to hold the Governor of the Central Bank to appear before Parliament and give us reasons why he has decided to disregard the Act of Parliament and do things contrary to what is in law at his own will. That should not be allowed to happen,” he said
BoG to finance government’s budget with ¢10bn
The Bank of Ghana earlier indicated that it will support the government’s budget with 10 billion cedis to enable it to address the economic impact of COVID-19 on the country.
This will include an initial amount of 5.5 billion cedis of the COVID-19 relief bond.
Dr. Addison disclosed this at a meeting with journalists where he announced the policy rate on Friday, May 15, 2020.
By this decision, the Bank of Ghana has set aside a Memorandum of Understanding with the IMF which bars it from financing the government’s budget which had been the case in previous years.
