Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has rubbished claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had raised concerns over the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange interventions.
In a sharp rebuttal during an interview on PM Express on JoyNews, Dr. Forson insisted there was “no such warning” in the IMF’s own documents and challenged the NPP to show evidence.
“I combed through the IMF staff report, and I did not see any attribution to what they claimed the IMF had said. I did not see any attribution. And so, where is this coming from?” Dr. Forson asked.
He emphasised that the narrative being pushed by the NPP, suggesting the IMF had cautioned against the Bank of Ghana’s $1.4 billion forex intervention, was completely misleading.
“I’ve not seen any attribution from the staff report where the IMF warned that the central bank is overly intervening in the market, supposedly, that is what people are made to believe. But that’s not the case. The IMF never said that,” he stated.
Dr. Forson pointed out that even after the interventions, the central bank still managed to accumulate $2.2 billion in reserves, far exceeding IMF program targets.
“After intervening, the central bank still accumulated $2.2 billion in reserves. Under the IMF program, the central bank was supposed to accumulate reserves, additional reserves, $453 million. They’ve accumulated almost $2 billion. And so what are we talking about?” he stated.
He also addressed the broader context of the interventions, referencing the Bank of Ghana’s ability to maintain and even grow foreign reserves beyond IMF benchmarks.
“Under the IMF program, you are supposed to build buffers up to three months of import cover. We have 4.8. By the end of the year, we’ll be hitting five months plus,” he said.
Defending the Gold for Reserves policy, the Finance Minister stressed that the central bank had the right to step into the market when necessary, thanks to the Ghana Gold Board.
“The essence of the Ghana Gold Board is for them to be able to buy the gold, export the gold, bring in the foreign currency to support the central bank for the central bank to be able to build reserves, and where possible, the central bank should be able to intervene when the need arises, and they are performing their mandate,” Dr. Forson explained.
The minister’s firm pushback came just hours after he presented the 2025 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review to Parliament.
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