Ghana’s central bank spent GH₵17 billion in 2025 on open market operations to absorb excess liquidity from the banking system, a cost that helped drive one of the sharpest inflation declines in the country’s recent history, Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama told Parliament on Monday.
Presenting the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) 2025 Monetary Policy Report to the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Development, Asiama said the intensified liquidity management was essential to restoring the effectiveness of monetary policy after years of macroeconomic stress.
“Intensified open market operations were required to absorb excess liquidity, resulting in higher interest expenses during the period of tight monetary policy,” he said, adding that central banks routinely incur such costs when implementing stabilisation measures.
The results have been significant. Headline inflation fell from 23.8 per cent in December 2024 to 5.4 per cent by December 2025, then further to 3.3 per cent in February 2026, one of the lowest readings Ghana has recorded in recent memory.
Over the same period, the monetary policy rate was reduced by a cumulative 900 basis points to 18 per cent, easing borrowing conditions across the economy. Gross international reserves rose to US$13.8 billion, equivalent to about 5.7 months of import cover.
Asiama acknowledged the journey to that point was difficult. When he assumed office in February 2025, he said Ghana was emerging from a sovereign debt restructuring, a sharp currency depreciation, and a surge in consumer prices. Headline inflation stood at 23.8 per cent and the cedi had lost 24.8 per cent of its value over the previous year.
The BoG responded with a package of coordinated measures: tightening monetary policy, managing excess liquidity through open market operations, and strengthening external buffers and the foreign exchange framework. The Domestic Gold Purchase Programme played a key role in reserve accumulation, with Ghana’s gold holdings rising from about 8.7 tonnes in 2021 to more than 40 tonnes by October 2025.
However, Asiama flagged a concentration risk, noting that rising global gold prices have pushed gold’s share of total reserves to approximately 42 per cent.
The banking sector has also recovered considerably. Capital adequacy improved to 17.5 per cent, and banks now have a roadmap to reduce non-performing loans (NPLs) toward 10 per cent by the end of 2026. Total banking sector assets grew from GH₵368 billion to GH₵447 billion, while deposits rose from GH₵276 billion to GH₵325 billion.
“The banking system today is liquid, solvent, and profitable, and increasingly positioned to support Ghana’s economic recovery,” Asiama said.
Looking ahead, the governor cautioned that global commodity price volatility and shifts in international financial conditions remain risks that could affect the domestic outlook. He pledged that the bank’s decisions would remain grounded in data.
“For ordinary Ghanaians, the real measure of success is simple: prices are stabilising, the cedi is steadier, and the economy is moving back toward normal,” he said.
Committee Chairman and Amenfi West Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Eric Afful commended the governor’s transparency, urging continued parliamentary engagement to counter economic misinformation.
