Dr. Kwasi Nyame-Baafi, a director of the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP)
Dr. Kwasi Nyame-Baafi, a Director at the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP), has criticised the analytical framework used by the Bank of Ghana in interpreting its recent financial performance, arguing that the comparison between accounting losses and claimed economic benefits is fundamentally flawed.
Speaking on The Probe on JoyNews, Dr. Nyame-Baafi said the central bank’s approach to justifying its financial outcomes risks distorting the true picture of its policy effectiveness.
“Yesterday on The Probe, I shared a new perspective. I argued that comparing accounting losses to economic benefits is fundamentally flawed, as has been done by the central bank,” he noted in a Facebook post.
According to him, such a framework creates an incomplete and potentially misleading narrative, particularly in the context of mounting financial pressures and policy costs reflected in the Bank’s recent accounts.
Dr. Nyame-Baafi stressed that a more rigorous and transparent assessment must go beyond selective comparisons and instead evaluate the full spectrum of outcomes generated by monetary policy decisions.
“What matters is a full comparison of total economic losses and total economic benefits in assessing whether the central bank has fulfilled its mandate,” he stated during the interview.
He explained that isolating accounting losses while juxtaposing them with broad, and often unquantified, economic gains fails to meet the standards of credible policy evaluation. In his view, both the direct financial costs and the wider macroeconomic consequences of policy actions must be measured comprehensively and weighed against each other.
Dr. Nyame-Baafi maintained that restoring confidence in the central bank will require not only improved financial outcomes but also a commitment to rigorous, 99evidence-based evaluation of its policies, anchored on clear metrics that reflect both costs and benefits in measurable terms.
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