Development economists are urging the government and telecom operators to lower digital transaction costs and deepen financial inclusion as a practical strategy to ease the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) mounting expenditure on inflation control and currency stabilisation.
Professor Peter Quartey, Acting Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), and Dr Daniel Anim-Prempeh, Chief Economist at the Policy Initiative for Economic Development (PIED), made the case following the BoG’s 2025 financial performance disclosures. The Central Bank recorded an operating loss of GH¢15.63 billion and an additional GH¢19.32 billion loss in Other Comprehensive Income (OCI), driven primarily by open market operations and the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. The appreciation of the cedi also triggered valuation losses on foreign reserves, pushing the Bank’s negative equity from GH¢61.32 billion to GH¢96.28 billion.
Prof Quartey argued that a more inclusive financial ecosystem would reduce the frequency and scale of such costly central bank interventions. When funds stay within the formal system through banks and mobile money platforms, they can be channelled into long-term investments including bonds and productive sectors, relieving pressure on monetary policy. He noted digital financial usage has grown since the removal of the electronic transfer levy (e-levy), but said high mobile money charges continue to discourage broader adoption. “Lower charges will encourage more digital transactions,” he said, calling for stronger collaboration between government and telecom operators to bring costs down.
Dr Anim-Prempeh linked the BoG’s financial losses to aggressive inflation-fighting strategies and urged a gradual transition toward less costly, more organic policy tools as macroeconomic stability takes hold. He warned that prolonged heavy intervention risks eroding public confidence if Ghanaians come to perceive stability as artificially sustained rather than structurally grounded.
He further stressed that boosting Ghana’s domestic productive capacity and export-oriented industries would reduce import dependence, ease sustained pressure on the cedi, and ultimately lighten the burden on monetary policy over the long term.
Both economists maintained that combining lower digital transaction costs, improved financial inclusion, and stronger real sector performance offers the most sustainable path to macroeconomic stability while minimising the financial strain on the Central Bank.
