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Claim: Twitter user shares Bank of Ghana’s financial performances, claiming the central bank has been making losses since 2018
Verdict: False. Sourcing its data from the Bank of Ghana, DUBAWA found inconsistencies in the data provided by the X user.
Full Text
The Bank of Ghana’s operations have come under intense scrutiny recently following a substantial loss of $60.8 billion in 2023. The central bank is currently undergoing recapitalisation, spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance.
Amid these issues, a Twitter user, @scottbolshevik, who identifies as a financial analyst, economist, historian, and politician, made a post on the financial performances of the Bank of Ghana from 2013 to 2023 on July 27, 2024. The post has garnered significant attention, with over 400,000 views, 800 bookmarks, 2,000 reposts, and 4,000 likes on the X platform.
Source: X
In the comment section, many users criticised the central bank for its consistent losses since 2018.
Source: X
However, are these figures accurate? Given the widespread attention the post has received, DUBAWA has decided to investigate the figures to determine if they align with the data from the Bank of Ghana.
Verification
DUBAWA’s research focused only on the annual reports of the central bank from 2013 to 2023.
| FINANCIALS OF THE BANK OF GHANA (2013-2023) | |||
| YEAR | FIGURE ($) | Page Number | PROFIT/LOSS |
| 2013 | 897,2014 million | (page 40) | Profit |
| 2014 | 899,353 million | (page 41) | Profit |
| 2015 | 1,020,037 billion | (page 37) | Profit |
| 2016 | 709,482 million | (page 38) | Profit |
| 2017 | 1,637,532 billion | (page 39) | Profit |
| 2018 | 793,085 million | (page 44) | Loss |
| 2019 | Not available | – | |
| 2020 | 1,572,794 billion | (page 63) | Profit |
| 2021 | 1,236,861 billion | (page 54) | Profit |
| 2022 | 60,809,753 billion | (page 65) | Loss |
| 2023 | 10,548,510 billion | (page 55) | Loss |
Source: Bank of Ghana
NOTE: The Bank of Ghana’s annual report for 2019 is unavailable on its website, so DUBAWA could not include those figures.
Based on the data above, it is evident that the figures quoted by @scottbolshevik are inaccurate. Although DUBAWA noted that he apologised and corrected the 2022 and 2023 figures in a quote tweet after quoting data from the Bank of Ghana to back his claim, the rest remain incorrect. Despite significant losses starting in 2018, the central bank made profits in 2020 and 2021.
However, the biggest loss was in 2022, when it recorded 60.8 billion losses. According to the Bank of Ghana, these losses were due to the government’s domestic debt restructuring exercise, as quoted in a statement issued by the central bank on August 9, 2023.
DUBAWA, however, attempted to contact @scottbolshevik for his source of data, but his direct message section was locked.
Conclusion
The Bank of Ghana’s financial health has experienced significant fluctuations over the past decade. While the bank enjoyed stability and growth in the early years from 2017 to 2018, recent years have been marked by volatility and substantial losses. In view of this, it is also evident that the data presented by @scottbolshevik was inconsistent.
