Government has printed GH¢22b worth of new cedis without parliamentary approval – Ato Forson alleges

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, a former deputy Finance Minister, has alleged that government through the Bank of Government (BoG) has printed an amount of GH¢22 billion in new currency notes without Parliamentary approval.

According to him, the new notes were printed between January and June 2022 on the orders of the government acting through Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Dr. Forson said this important information is hidden on page 97 of Appendix 2a of the Mid-year budget under the section on Bank of Ghana.

“They have printed GH¢22 billion fresh money without the knowledge of Parliament and without informing all of us,” he said while addressing the press on Monday.

He stressed that the act is illegal and against the Bank of Ghana Act.

Linking the rise of Ghana’s inflation to the GH¢22 billion printed, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament noted that, “if this trend continues I won’t be surprised that we will end the year with inflation of about 50 per cent.

“I am saddened, no wonder inflation is galloping, no wonder that our reserves position is dwindling. Because when you create new money out of the thin air, what happens is that inflation will go up and obviously because it is new money, you will end up losing your reserves because there would be new consumption.

“I want to urge the Governor of the central bank that he has engaged in gross illegality and in future if he is asked to print money, he should first come to Parliament before he acts,” Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson stressed.