The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has published its audited financial statements for 2025, revealing a negative equity position of GH¢35 billion for the year and pushing the central bank’s cumulative deficit to GH¢96.3 billion.
The statements were released on April 30, 2026, after the central bank obtained a one-month extension from Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson to complete the accounts, partly due to a change in external auditors and additional scrutiny requested around gold operations and exposure to the Ghana Gold Board.
The 2025 outturn marks a further deterioration from an already strained position. The central bank recorded a net loss of GH¢15.6 billion, up from GH¢9.4 billion in 2024. An additional charge of GH¢19.32 billion in other comprehensive income, arising from the accounting impact of a stronger cedi on the value of foreign-denominated assets, compounded the balance sheet pressure.
The three principal drivers of the loss are monetary policy costs, the gold accumulation programme, and exchange rate accounting effects. On monetary policy, the Bank intensified its liquidity sterilisation operations in 2025, issuing short-term instruments to absorb excess money from the financial system and paying interest on them. The cost of this intervention rose from GH¢8.6 billion in 2024 to GH¢16.7 billion in 2025. The Bank says this effort delivered measurable results, with inflation falling by 18 percentage points over the period.
On gold, the central bank recorded an accounting cost of GH¢9 billion under its accumulation programme, up from GH¢5.7 billion in 2024. The Bank emphasised that these are not realised losses, as the gold itself, estimated at approximately 111 tonnes in 2025 compared to less than one tonne in 2021, remains on its balance sheet as a reserve asset.
On the exchange rate, the GH¢19.32 billion charge in other comprehensive income reflects the fall in the cedi value of foreign reserves as the cedi strengthened. The cedi appreciated by 41 percent in 2025, making it one of the strongest-performing currencies among emerging markets, while Ghana’s gross international reserves rose from US$9.1 billion at the end of 2024 to US$13.8 billion by the close of 2025, and further to US$14.5 billion by February 2026. The accounting charge is therefore a valuation effect, not a loss of actual resources.
The roots of the deficit predate 2025. The central bank’s equity turned negative in 2022 following the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), which imposed a 50 percent haircut on non-marketable government instruments held by the Bank, resulting in an impairment of approximately GH¢48.4 billion. The restructuring also reduced the Bank’s interest income on government securities by about GH¢13 billion annually, an effect that will persist until the affected instruments mature.
Recognising the Bank’s contribution to fiscal adjustment, the Government of Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the central bank on January 6, 2025, establishing a framework for potential recapitalisation if needed.
Parliamentary Majority spokesperson on Finance, Atta-Issah, defended the results at a press briefing on April 30, stressing that the central bank’s authority derives from statute rather than its balance sheet. “These results do not affect the Bank of Ghana’s ability to set and implement monetary policy, to manage Ghana’s foreign reserves, or to supervise the financial system,” he said.
The Bank is not alone globally in facing this position. The European Central Bank reported losses in 2023 and 2024, and the Czech National Bank operated with negative equity for 17 consecutive years while maintaining full policy credibility.
Parliament’s Majority maintained that the 2025 loss represents the peak of the cycle, with future results expected to improve as stabilisation gains take hold and the cost of monetary interventions eases.
