By Adnan Adams Mohammed
The Bank of Ghana’s newly published 2025 Annual Report and Financial Statements has unveiled a historic triumph of monetary craftsmanship, positioning the nation as a beacon of aggressive structural recovery.
The report detailed a watershed year of aggressive macroeconomic stabilization, robust gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and a dramatic strengthening of external buffers.
The spectacular economic turnaround achieved through an expertly engineered stabilization strategy, the central bank successfully crushed headline inflation from a staggering 23.8% in 2024 down to a phenomenal single-digit low of 5.4% by December 2025, comfortably outperforming the central bank’s medium-term target band of 8+-2%.
Parallel to this achievement, the Ghanaian cedi mounted a brilliant, historic 40.7% appreciation against the US dollar, entirely erasing the previous year’s losses.
Even as intense open market interventions to secure this stability resulted in a deliberate, counterpart operating loss of GH¢15.63 billion on its balance sheet, the Bank of Ghana has masterfully restored investor confidence and laid down an ironclad foundation for sustained national prosperity.
The Year in Numbers: Key Macroeconomic Indicators
The newly published figures paint a comprehensive picture of structural recovery across the domestic landscape:
● Real GDP Growth: Expanded by 6.0% (with non-oil GDP accelerating at an impressive 7.6%), driven heavily by the agriculture and services sectors.
● Headline Inflation: Closed the year at 5.4%, marking its lowest level since 2018.
● Monetary Policy Rate: Slid along an easing trajectory to end the year at 18%, down from an initial height of 28%.
● Current Account Surplus: Reached a historic high of US$9.39 billion, fueled by a massive doubling of gold export receipts.
● Gross International Reserves: Advanced to US$13.83 billion, providing a comfortable 5.7 months of import cover.
● Currency Performance: The Ghana cedi appreciated by a historic 40.7% against the US dollar, fully reversing the 19.2% depreciation logged in 2024.
Stabilization Achieved “At Great Cost”
Despite the stellar macroeconomic achievements, the sheer intensity of open market liquidity sterilization and reserve accumulation operations placed a significant burden on the central bank’s own balance sheet.
The Bank of Ghana recorded an Operating Loss of GH¢15.63 billion for the 2025 financial year, alongside a cumulative negative equity position of GH¢93.82 billion.
Central bank officials emphasize that these financial developments do not impair the bank’s operational capacity. A phased recapitalization memorandum of understanding (MoU) has already been executed with the Ministry of Finance to progressively restore the bank’s equity over the medium term.
Official Statements from Leadership
In his official foreword to the report, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, strongly defended the strategic execution of the bank’s mandate:
“The experience of 2025 demonstrates that restoring and preserving stability requires commitment, discipline, and at times difficult choices, but the benefits are far-reaching”.
Addressing the operating losses stemming from intense open market interventions to absorb excess liquidity, Governor Asiama remarked:
“While these operations and developments negatively affected the Bank’s financial position, they were the financial counterpart of the stabilisation gains achieved during the year. Lower inflation, reduced borrowing costs, exchange rate stability, and improved investor confidence are now visible across the economy”.
Looking ahead to the upcoming fiscal cycles, the Governor reaffirmed that the primary objective will remain entirely uncompromised:
“Price stability remains the foundation upon which sustainable economic growth, investment, employment creation, and financial stability depend. As we look ahead, our focus will be on consolidating and safeguarding the gains in stability”.
Banking Sector and Future Reforms
The report notes that the broader banking sector remains highly resilient, boasting a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 17.5%, well clear of the 13.0% regulatory minimum.
To prepare the financial ecosystem for long-term development, the central bank also successfully advanced critical institutional structural reforms in 2025. These included the formalization of the 2025–2029 National Payment Systems Strategy to accelerate digital finance infrastructure, as well as the landmark passage of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154), introducing a robust legal blueprint for cryptocurrency and digital asset frameworks inside the country.
