Prominent legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has urged commentators criticising the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to apply the same standards they used during previous periods of far deeper financial difficulty, arguing that the current debate around the central bank’s performance lacks consistency.
Speaking on TV3’s Keypoints programme, Kpebu pointed to what he described as a clear contradiction in how the institution’s policy solvency position is being evaluated. He noted that in 2022, when the BoG recorded losses of approximately GH¢60.8 billion, the central bank maintained it was policy solvent, a position widely accepted at the time even as inflation exceeded 54 percent.
“In 2022, when we made that loss of 60.8 billion, the Bank of Ghana insisted they were policy solvent,” he said. “Inflation was about 54 percent, and yet they said they were policy solvent.”
He contrasted that backdrop with present conditions, where Ghana’s headline inflation stood at 3.2 percent in March 2026, the lowest reading since the consumer price index was rebased in 2021 and comfortably below the BoG’s 8 percent target band. “Today, inflation is around 3 percent, and you want to say things have gone haywire. I don’t understand this,” Kpebu said.
The lawyer also cited data on food prices, referencing an agri-food security report which he said showed average food commodity prices fell by 32 percent over the past year, and argued that such improvements in living costs should be central to any serious assessment of the central bank’s impact.
“Average price of food commodities dropped by 32 percent over the last year,” he said, adding, “Please, we are dealing with evidence, not statements in the air.”
Kpebu’s intervention comes amid a sharp political debate over the BoG’s 2025 audited financial statements, which showed a net loss of GH¢15.6 billion and negative equity widening to GH¢93.82 billion. The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority in Parliament has described the institution as “policy insolvent,” while government officials and NDC (National Democratic Congress) supporters argue the losses reflect the deliberate and successful cost of bringing inflation down.
Kpebu urged all sides to anchor their arguments in verified data rather than political posturing. “Let’s speak to the figures,” he said.
