The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended that the financial cost of Ghana’s monetary stabilisation programme be transferred from the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) balance sheet to the national budget, raising the question of who ultimately bears the price of the country’s economic recovery.
The recommendation adds a new dimension to Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama’s disclosure to Parliament’s Committee on Economy and Development this week that the central bank spent approximately GH¢17 billion in 2025 on open market operations (OMOs) to absorb excess liquidity from the banking system.
During a December 2025 programme review, the IMF reiterated that such costs should be transferred to the national budget rather than retained on the central bank’s balance sheet, stressing the need for greater accounting transparency to prevent erosion of the BoG’s capital position.
The government has since responded with a concrete commitment. Under recent amendments to the central bank law, government has committed to recapitalising the Bank of Ghana to help strengthen its balance sheet over time. Dr. Asiama confirmed to parliament that the arrangement means the cost of stabilisation will increasingly be shared with the fiscal side rather than absorbed entirely by the central bank.
The sterilisation bill has been substantial. Costs peaked at GH¢24.80 billion in 2023 during the height of the sovereign debt restructuring and the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), before moderating to GH¢18.14 billion in 2024 and approximately GH¢17 billion in 2025. The pre-crisis baseline, by contrast, stood at roughly GH¢5 to 7 billion annually.
Economic analysts have warned that the sustainability of these sterilisation operations depends critically on fiscal support, cautioning that the costs could eventually weigh on the central bank’s reserves and profitability if government backing does not materialise.
The results of the programme, however, are difficult to dispute. Headline inflation fell from 23.8 percent in December 2024 to 3.3 percent in February 2026, one of the sharpest disinflation sequences in Ghana’s recent history. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut its benchmark policy rate by a cumulative 900 basis points during 2025, bringing it to 18 percent before a further reduction to 15.5 percent in January 2026.
Gross international reserves rose to US$13.8 billion, equivalent to about 5.7 months of import cover, while total banking sector assets climbed from GH¢368 billion to GH¢447 billion over the same period.
Dr. Asiama told lawmakers the financial costs recorded on the central bank’s accounts should be understood as the arithmetic counterpart of the stability that Ghanaian households and businesses are now experiencing. “These outcomes were achieved through policy actions that inevitably carry financial consequences for the central bank,” he said.
