The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has reiterated its commitment to provide emergency liquidity support for banks in the country in line with their rules for liquidity assistance.
It noted that even though no bank in the country has applied for liquidity support from the central bank currently, it has put in place measures to ensure the banking sector remains solvent and strong to support economic growth, despite the recent challenges faced by the country.
“We have not had any bank ask for liquidity assistance partly because of the regulatory reliefs that we gave them. We reduced the reserve requirement as part of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) but I always make the point that should any bank need liquidity, the Bank of Ghana would stand ready to provide the resources in line with our rules for liquidity assistance,” Dr. Ernest Addison, BoG Governor stated.
The assurance is given as banks in the country recorded after-taxes losses amounting to GH¢6.6 billion in 2022.
This was largely due to negative impact of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in which 23 banks operating in the country participated in the exercise.
Most banks reported significant losses on the back of the mark-to-market valuation losses on their respective holdings in Government of Ghana bonds following the implementation of the DDEP.
Other losses were due to higher impairments on loans and rising operating costs.
The industry posted before-tax losses of GH¢8.0 billion in 2022 compared with a profit of GH¢7.4 billion recorded in 2021.
