Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah has denied allegations by a Ranking member of Finance Casil Ato Forson regarding the unauthorized printing of 22 billion cedis notes. Dr Forson made this allegation when addressing the media on Monday, July 25, 2022, after the Finance minister had presented the mid-year budget review to parliament.
According to the NDC MP, the move by the government could account for the increase in inflation and the dwindling of reserves.
“In the 2020 budget, the project was that the government was going to take zero amounts from the Central Bank only for us to see that between January to June 2022, this administration has taken GH¢22 billion cedis from the Central Bank of Ghana. When the Bank of Ghana gives money to the government, it is called printing of money, which is unacceptable,” Ato Forson opined.
However, the Deputy Minister of Finance has sharply refuted the claims by Ato Forson, indicating that the money is just an overdraft given by the bank to the government. He explained, “If you read section 30 of the Bank of Ghana Act, it is within the remit of the law for Bank of Ghana to grant overdrafts and support to the Central government without printing money.”
Dr Ato Forson, during his press briefing, expressed surprise that Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta failed to mention something as salient as that during his presentation of the mid-year budget review. He called it an illegality that the bank should not repeat. This information was instead hidden in the appendix of the budget review document.
