The Bank of Ghana (BoG), for the 2021 fiscal year grew the value of its assets by 14.5 billion
The Bank, per data provided in its 2021 Financial Statement, ended 2021 with a total assets value of Ghs 112.3 billion.
The Central Bank’s 2021 assets value compared to the Ghs 97.8 billion assets value recorded in 2020 represents over 14.9 percentage points increment year-on-year.
The assets value of the Central Bank was driven mainly by its securities holdings – both foreign and local.
The total value of securities held by the BoG for the period under review was Ghs 70.4 billion, an increase of some Ghs 3.8 billion from the 2020’s value of Ghs 66.6 billion.
Other factors such as the value of the Central Bank’s gold reserves, balances with the IMF and loans and advances to banks also contributed to the Bank’s increased assets value for the review period.
The value of the Bank’s gold reserves at the end of the reporting period stood at Ghs 3.08 billion, with its balances with the IMF also pegged at Ghs 11.8 billion.
Loans and advances made to the 23 commercial banks in the country by the Bank stood at Ghs 17.1 billion as at the end of 2021.
A careful perusal of the Bank’s financial statement revealed that its liabilities for the year under review increased by Ghs 13 billion – Ghs 1.5 billion less the recorded increment in assets value.
The huge increment in the Bank’s liabilities was on the account of an increment in deposits from banks which increased from Ghs 23.1 billion in 2020 to Ghs 30.6 billion in 2021 and a marginal increase in liabilities to the IMF from Ghs 16 billion in 2020 to Ghs 16.6 billion at the end of 2021.
Meanwhile, the Bank for the 2020 fiscal year posted a total operating income of Ghs 4.9 billion, a decline of some Ghs 864 million when compared to the Ghs 5.8bn recorded in 2020.
Operating expenses and taxes, however, chipped away most of the income made by the Bank, resulting in the Bank ending 2021 with a net profit of Ghs 1.2 billion.
High-Interest rates on government’s 91, 182 and 364 days treasury bills were not enough to attract investors as bids made by investors for the short term securities fell below its auction target of GHS 1bn.
This is the third time in a row that government has failed to achieve its auction targets for issued treasury bills.
Interest rates on the 91, 182 and 364 days were 16.7%, 17.3% and 19.7% respectively.
The increase in the interest rates can be attributed to the policy tightening by the Central Bank in response to rising inflation and currency pressures.
Government’s inability to achieve its set targets for T-Bills auction can be attributed to a number of a factors with the first being a tightening of liquidity on the interbank market and the second being the disinterest of investors in the short term instruments given the high rate of inflation which currently stands at 19.4% – the high inflation rate will “eat away” the interest rates on the T-Bills.
Per the auction results released by the Bank of Ghana, government managed to mobilize a total of GHS 775m in bids made by investors for the T-Bills, falling below it’s target by some GHS 225m.
Bids for the 91, 182 and 364 days T-Bills amounted to GHS 721 million, GHS 50 million and GHS 15 million respectively with government accepting GHS 711 million, GHS 50 million and GHS 14 million in bids made for the 91, 182 and 364 days T-bills.
Government, in its next auction – April 21 – is aiming at raising some GHS 1,932 million from the issuance of the 91, 182 and 364-day bills.
Source: Norvanreports
