Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Johnson Asiama, has renewed calls for stronger efforts to promote the exclusive use of the Ghana cedi in domestic transactions, describing dollarisation as one of the country’s most persistent economic challenges.
Speaking at the IMF/World Bank Governor Talk Series in Washington, D.C., Dr. Asiama expressed concern over the continued use of foreign currencies particularly the US dollar in local trade, noting that it undermines the effectiveness of monetary policy.
“A couple of things bother me. First of all is the issue of dollarisation. I have seen this for many years. I started central banking 30 years ago. The phenomenon has been there. So, we are tackling it,” he said.
He added that ensuring the cedi becomes the sole legal tender in Ghana’s economy is a key priority for his administration at the central bank.
“What can we do to make the local currency the sole legal tender? So on the 28th of this month, we are having a celebration. We call it the Cedi at 60. The local currency will be 60 years this year, and we want that to mark a new beginning,” Dr. Asiama announced.
The BoG Governor said the upcoming anniversary celebration would serve as both a symbolic and practical step toward reinforcing confidence in the cedi and promoting its wider use across all sectors of the economy.
“When we use the local currency in all transactions, this enhances the efficiency of monetary policy. It is at the core of most of our problems. It is one of the things I would want to be remembered for—that I came, I solved that problem, and I made the local currency the currency of choice,” he said.
The Cedi at 60 celebration, scheduled for October 28, is expected to highlight the evolution of Ghana’s national currency and renew public commitment to its use as the sole medium of exchange within the country.
A high-powered delegation from Ghana comprising the country’s topmost economic managers, are in Washington DC, to attend the 2025 edition of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.
The delegation will expectedly be led by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson, Pandit Asiama, the two positions that traditionally lead in Ghana’s discussions at the annual forum. Several other high-level officials are expected to be on the delegation.The meetings will last from Monday October 13 to Saturday, October 18.
The Ghana delegation will be very busy during this period, engaging in a series of top-level meetings with multilateral institution chieftains, counterparts from the country’s international development partner countries and the international investment community.
Ghana’s most important meetings will be with the IMF’s senior management up to the Executive Directors level, as explicitly foreseen since the Spring Meetings held in April. Staff-level meetings will also take place to discuss the status of Ghana’s ongoing Extended Credit Facility programme and the implementation of reforms. The ECF programme ends next year.
On Friday last week it was announced that the IMF had reached a staff level agreement to conclude the 5th review of the ECF with Ghana. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team, led by Mr. Ruben Atoyan, held meetings in Accra from September 29 to October 10, 2025, to discuss progress on the authorities’ policy and reform priorities in the context of the fifth review of Ghana’s 3-year program under the Extended Credit Facility.
This staff –level agreement is subject to IMF Management approval and Board consideration. Upon completion of the Executive Board review, Ghana would have access to about US$385 million bringing the total IMF financial support disbursed under the arrangement, since May 2023 to about US$2.825 million.
The Ghana delegation will want to pressure the IMF Board to accelerate the approval process to get access to that disbursement.
Importantly, the staff level agreement implies that the BoG has the acquiescence of the IMF to carry out its announced US$1.15 billion forex liquidity injection into the local market to support the cedi’s exchange rate in the face of customary rising demand for forex ahead of the year’s end.
Meetings will also be held with officials of the World Bank Group – including its private sector financing arm, the International Finance Corporation – as well as possible meetings with other regional or thematic development banks with interest in Ghana such as the African Development Bank.
The Ghanaian delegation will likely take advantage of the momentum achieved last week with its reaching of a bilateral debt restructuring agreement with Spain to meet with other bilateral development partners who comprise the Paris Club of official creditors. Since the meetings are taking place in Washington, Ghana will want to take advantage and meet with US treasury officials, for example.
The programme for the meetings also includes “African Caucus” events where Ghana may engage with peers from West Africa and other African countries to coordinate positions
Finally, meetings will likely take place with commercial creditors (the London Club), international investors and the sovereign credit ratings agencies that track Ghana.
Key focus areas for the delegation include job creation and inclusive growth, energy access and food security, and climate resilience and green financing. These engagements aim to secure additional support for Ghana’s economic recovery and long-term stability.
Keystones of the Annual Meetings are the Plenary session, the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee meetings. Other featured events include regional briefings, press conferences, and fora focused on international development, the global economy, and financial markets.
Amidst intermittent foreign exchange shortages at the banks, the Bank of Ghana has taken steps to focus on improving the efficiency of the forex market and ensuring banks have sufficient liquidity to meet the needs of businesses and households.
In a meeting with the Chief Executives of commercial banks in Accra, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana also hinted at further easing in the monetary space as market conditions improve.
“There is hope for further easing,” Dr. Johnson P. Asiama said, noting that any adjustment to the rate will be done cautiously to protect the gains made in macroeconomic stability.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has urged the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to avoid excessive foreign exchange (FX) interventions, warning that such actions could disrupt market balance and weaken economic resilience.
As contained in the latest Ghana Economic Update report launched in Accra last week, the World Bank emphasised the need for the central bank to allow market forces to have greater influence over exchange rate movements.
The report also called for the swift completion of the recapitalisation of all financial institutions in line with the Financial Sector Strengthening Strategy.
In addition, it recommended a comprehensive asset quality review to address high non-performing loans (NPLs), providing banks with clear action plans to restore financial stability.
“These measures will help strengthen balance sheets, rebuild confidence, and position the banking sector to better support Ghana’s economic recovery,” the World Bank stated.
The recommendations come as Ghana presses ahead with reforms under its IMF-supported programme aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and fostering sustainable growth
The Central Bank recently cut its policy rate from 28 percent to 25 percent during the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, citing positive macroeconomic indicators.
Inflation has fallen steadily in recent months, aided by the relative stability of the cedi and improved foreign reserves.
Analysts believe that a future policy rate cut could further lower borrowing costs, boost private sector lending, and help sustain Ghana’s economic recovery, particularly in sectors that rely heavily on credit access.
President John Dramani Mahama has nominated Dr. Johnson Asiamah to serve as Governor of the Bank of Ghana pending approval by the Council of State.
Dr Asiamah’s nomination follows the receipt and acceptance of a formal request by current Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, to proceed on leave from Monday, February 3, leading to his retirement on 31st March, 2025 when his second four year term in office expires.
Dr Johnson Asiamah who previously served as a Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana between 2016 and 2017, holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Southampton, UK and has extensive experience in monetary policy formulation, financial stability regulation and economic research having worked at the central bank for over 23 years.
Highly respected in the local and international financial services industry for being a career central banking professional rather than simply a favoured political career. He has over the years demonstrated commitment to implementing sound monetary and exchange rate policy, foster a stable financial system, as well as promoting accelerated economic growth in Ghana.
But his appointment is seen as redemption after a difficult past seven years. After being hounded out of his contractual position as second Deputy Governor in 2017, by the now outgone Nana Akufo-Addo administration, he has since been prosecuted – unsuccessfully – over two separate cases related to the collapse of UniBank and UT Bank. He was accused by that government of breaching the Bank of Ghana Act and causing financial loss, due to his signing off on providing central bank liquidity support of GHc150 million to the now defunct Unibank and GHc 413.09 million to the also now defunct UT Bank, despite both decisions being recommended by the BoG’s Banking Supervision Department.
However, the case was widely seen as political persecution for his role in defending some decisions of the bank and the state under the first President John Dramani Mahama administration; an assertion supported by the circumstances of the case and the fact that seven years on, no guilty verdict has been secured. Instructively upon the assumption of office of President Mahama for a belated second term in early January, a notice of withdrawal of the case was filed at the trial court and signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa.
Meanwhile, the outgoing Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison will from Monday February 3, 2025 proceed on a terminal leave as he prepares for retirement. Dr. Addison who has served as Governor since April 2017 is embarking on the leave ahead of his official exit on March 28, 2025, after successfully serving two full terms. This move aligns with the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612), as amended, which stipulates that the Governor’s tenure is a four-year term, renewable only once.
The Governor’s leave has received the approval of President John Dramani Mahama. Dr. Ernest Addison was first appointed on April 3, 2017 and was reappointed for a second term on March 29, 2021.
Interestingly, Dr Addison has also been publicly villainized for political reasons too, having been accused of supporting the Akufo-Addo administration’s profligate public spending by lending it money far in excess of what the laws permit in 2022 and then writing off half of it, leading to the erosion of most of the central bank’s capital. In actual fact though, the BoG, under Dr Addison, provided government with the money to prevent its defaulting massively on due public debt repayments when the international capital markets closed its doors to Ghana; and then accepted a 50% haircut on its enlarged exposure to government to enable government meet the public debt sustainability threshold demanded by the International Monetary Fund before it approved a direly needed US$3 billion financial bailout for the country
President Mahama has pledged to overcome public discontent by boosting the economy and creating much-needed jobs. He inherited an economy emerging from its worst economic crisis in a generation, with turmoil in the vital cocoa and gold industries.
His administration has yet to formally publish its detailed macro-economic policy plans, which was cited by the central bank a week ago as one reason why it kept its key lending rate, the Monetary Policy Rate unchanged at 27%.
The Bank of Ghana targets inflation of 8% with a margin of error of 2 percentage points either side of that, but the annual rate was currently well above that at over 23% in December.
The bank said last week that its latest forecasts showed it would take longer for inflation to return within the 6%-10% range than originally anticipated, and is now targeting the second quarter of 2026 to reach it..
