The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has released its 2024 financial statements showing a loss of GHS 9.49 billion. This represents their third straight year of posting a loss after the GHS 60.8bn loss in 2022 and the GHS 13.2bn loss in 2023 (restated upwards from GHS 10.5bn).

Total operating income was GHS 9.4bn with operating expenses of GHS 18.89bn leading to the loss. Crucially, the cost of open market operations (OMO) ,which involves buying and selling securities in order to control interest rates, was GHS 8.6bn compared to the interest income of GHS 8.53bn. This suggests that the BoG paid out more in interest for securities it issued than it received in interest for securities it holds. In a press release accompanying the financials, the BOG stated that apart from OMO, the lead drivers of its losses was an exchange loss of GHS 3.49bn which includes a GHS 1.82bn loss on the Gold-for-Oil programme.

Despite the losses, the BoG increased its assets from GHS 140bn to GHS 215bn, partly driven by its gold holdings rising from GHS 14bn to GHS 33.6bn. Its negative equity position (the extent to which its liabilities exceeds its assets) narrowed to GHS 61bn from GHS 65bn in 2023. This was partly driven by the value of the bank’s gold and foreign securities rising by GHS 10.5bn.

The BoG’s negative equity position first resulted from impairment losses the bank suffered after the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) in 2022. The finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, has ruled out using taxpayer’s funds to close this gap and has suggested that the BoG find internal means to recapitalise. The gains on the bank’s gold holdings could potentially return it to a positive equity position if losses from its other operations do not mount.