Bank of Ghana (BoG) reported a loss of GH₵10.50 billion for the financial year ending 2023.
This loss was primarily driven by a significant increase in total interest expenses related to the Central Bank’s open market operations, which rose by GH₵6.7 billion during the review period.
The Bank attributed these heightened expenses to efforts to manage excess liquidity in the economy and support the disinflation process as part of a broader macroeconomic adjustment program.
As of December 31, 2023, the Bank of Ghana and its subsidiaries faced a situation where total liabilities exceeded total assets by GH₵65.36 billion.
Despite this, the total operating expenses for 2023 amounted to GH₵19.2 billion, a significant decrease from the GH₵66.9 billion recorded in 2022.
This reduction was mainly due to lower impairment charges on loans and advances and the Bank’s holdings of Government of Ghana securities.
Notably, the GH₵10.50 billion loss in 2023 represents a marked improvement from the GH₵60.9 billion loss incurred in 2022.
The previous year’s loss was largely due to the impairment of the Bank’s holdings of marketable government stocks and non-marketable instruments during the domestic debt exchange program.
The Bank of Ghana further explains that “this Open Market Operations activity, which accounted for a significant portion of the loss incurred yielded positive results.
The aggressive mopping up operations, contributed to slowing down inflation to 23.2 per cent by the end of 2023, significantly down from the rate of 54.1 per cent at the end of 2022.”