The Central Bank printed a cumulative total of 1.024 billion cedis in banknotes in 2022 and 2023, the First Deputy Governor informed Parliament.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, responded to a public interest question posed by the committee’s chairman, James Avedzi, regarding the amount of currency printed in 2022 and 2023. He disclosed, “In 2023, we printed GH₵688 million, and in 2022, we printed GH₵336 million.”
He further elaborated on the prerequisites within the currency model that dictate when and how money is printed.
“The Central Bank employs a model to determine when money is printed, taking into account several key factors: the nominal GDP growth for the year, the cocoa purchase forecast—since cocoa is primarily purchased with cash—and other relevant factors.
We also maintain a clean note policy, ensuring that only notes meeting certain standards remain in circulation. Those that fail to meet this policy are not reintroduced into the system.
By combining these factors with economic forecasts, we determine how much new currency should be introduced to maintain the necessary degree of exchangeability required for transactions within the country. This model guides the amount of money printed at any given time.”
Dr. Opoku-Afari also noted that the Central Bank’s goal for 2024 is to reduce inflation to 15% by the end of December. He explained that the Bank of Ghana expects the cost of open market operations to decrease as the country exits a high-inflation environment.
Gradually, the cost of maintaining price stability is declining, and the Central Bank aims to ensure that this cost does not constitute a significant portion of its financial statement’s outturn.
The Bank of Ghana’s report revealed that the Central Bank reduced its losses from GH₵60 billion in 2022 to GH₵10.5 billion in 2023.
Dr. Opoku-Afari emphasized that these losses were not due to the Central Bank’s operations but were instead the result of the 50% haircut it took on the government’s debt stock.
By Eugene Davis
