Bank of Ghana to commission new $250 million headquarters on November 20

• Posted on November 13, 2024November 13, 2024
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is set to commission its newly constructed headquarters, named “The Bank Square,” on November 20 in Accra. 

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will be the special guest of honour at the ceremony, scheduled to start at 10am. The event is strictly by invitation.

The construction of the new headquarters has sparked debate in July this year, especially in light of the BoG’s reported 10.5 billion cedis loss in 2023. The bank paid approximately $250 million for the project, a move that has attracted scrutiny from several stakeholders, including Member of Parliament Yusif Suleman, who questioned the wisdom of continuing with the high-cost project amid such substantial losses.

In response, Mr. Stephen Opata, Special Advisor to the BoG Governor, defended the project, explaining that halting construction would have been inefficient and incurred additional costs due to the advanced stage of development and the presence of contractors on site.

Mr. Opata further clarified that while the losses were concerning, they were due to multiple factors beyond the new headquarters’ construction. “I hear you clearly,” he acknowledged, “but this project was way advanced. Stopping it mid-way would not have been the best decision under the circumstances.”

The BoG’s position is that the headquarters project was crucial to its operational needs and that halting construction would have been more financially detrimental. 

-Graphic