We won’t print money to pay depositors of collapsed financial institutions – BoG

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, has downplayed suggestions that the central bank prints money to pay up customers whose funds have been locked up in some of the collapsed financial institutions.

The Governor stated that although the bank was committed to paying depositors’ locked-up funds; printing money had not been part of its plans as it has the potential to undo all that the bank has achieved over the past couple of years.

The suggestion was first mooted by economist Kwame Pianim in an interview with Citi News, and was backed by the CEO of the Private Enterprises Federation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu.

“Government has already decided we should pay, so you leave that to us and we would pay. But we are not going to pay by printing money as has been suggested; because printing money to do that would not help anybody. If you print money you are going to cause inflation; you are going to devalue your currency.”

“At the end of the day, all of us will not gain anything out of that. So, it is important that we are able to do this without resorting to printing money,” he stated.

In addition, he added that the receivers of the collapsed institutions are still going about the responsibilities to recoup the loans advanced by the defunct institutions.

Economist, Prof. Peter Quartey, earlier shot down the proposal, saying it would have serious implications on the country’s budget deficit.