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The
Director
of
Research
at
the
Institute
of
Economic
Affairs
(IEA),
Dr
John
Kwakye
says
that
calls
for
review
of
the
Bank
of
Ghana
(BoG)
Act
are
meant
to
safeguard
the
central
bank’s
independence
while
ensuring
its
accountability.
To
him,
an
independent,
transparent
and
accountable
Bank
of
Ghana
is
an
absolute
necessity.
“IEA’s
recent
call
for
review
of
the
BoG
Act
is
meant
to
safeguard
the
Bank’s
independence
while
ensuring
its
accountability.
“That
is
fair
game.
The
review
proposed
longer
terms
for
the
Governors,
approval
of
their
remuneration
by
Parliament
and
their
accountability
to
same
body,”
he
wrote
on
his
X
platform.
Earlier,
the
Minister
of
Finance
Dr
Mohammed
Amin
Adam
announced
that
the
cabinet
had
approved
the
proposed
amendment
of
the
BoG
Act
as
part
of
efforts
to
boost
the
independence
of
the
central
bank.
The
amendment
is
also
aimed
at
addressing
the
recommendations
by
the
International
Monetary
Fund
(IMF)
safeguard
assessment
to
strengthen
BoG’s
autonomy.
The
Karaga
lawmaker
said
this
during
a
joint
press
conference
by
the
Ministry
of
Finance,
Bank
of
Ghana,
and
the
IMF
on
Monday,
July
1.
Cabinet
approves
proposed
amendment
of
Bank
of
Ghana
Act
–
Finance
Minister
announces
He
said
“The
IMF
has
acknowledged
Ghana’s
strong
performance,
as
attested
to
by
Stephane
Roudette,
the
IMF
Mission
Chief
for
Ghana.
Ghana’s
performance
under
the
programme
has
been
generally
strong
with
all
the
quantitative
performance
criteria
for
the
second
review
and
all
indicative
targets
met,
except
one
and
good
progress
is
being
made
on
key
structural
reforms.
“The
structural
reforms
executed
under
the
second
review
include
the
following:
i.
We
expanded
GIFMIS
infrastructure
to
cover
280
IGF-reliant
institutions
with
all
the
available
functionalities
in
December
2023;
ii.
We
published
on
PURC’s
website,
the
final
report
of
the
first
quarterly
audit
of
ECG’s
single
account
in
Feb
2024;
iii.
The
BoG
in
March
2024,
took
the
requisite
action
against
banks
that
did
not
comply
with
the
one-third
recapitalization
and
the
non-negative
CAR
requirements
in
2023;
iv.
The
BoG
and
MoF
designed
and
began
the
implementation
of
a
credible,
comprehensive,
and
costeffective
plan
that
seeks
to
address
NIB’s
insolvency
challenges
by
end-2024,
with
approval
from
Cabinet;
v.
We
also
developed
and
Cabinet
approved
a
centralized
inventory
of
all
ongoing
and
planned
public
investment
projects
in
March
2024;
and
vi.
Cabinet
has
approved
proposed
amendments
to
the
BoG
Act
aimed
at
addressing
the
recommendations
by
the
IMF’s
safeguard
assessment
to
strengthen
BoG’s
autonomy.”
The
proposed
amendment
of
the
Act
was
made
following
the
approval
of
the
economic
support
programme
for
Ghana
by
the
Fund
last
year.
This
was
contained
in
a
country
report
issued
by
the
Fund
on
May
17,
2023.
The
amendments
to
the
Bank
of
Ghana
Act
would
feature
a
stricter
limit
for
monetary
financing,
mechanisms
to
monitor
and
enforce
compliance,
and
offer
clear
definition
of
emergency
situations
under
which
the
limit
can
be
temporarily
lifted.
Prior
to
Ghana
securing
the
IMF
Executive
Board
for
a
$3
billion
bailout,
the
Bank
of
Ghana
and
the
Ministry
of
Finance
signed
a
memorandum
of
understanding
(MoU)
to
end
monetary
financing
during
the
programme.