BoG repays SDR debt; increases holdings to $46.9 million
The Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as at end-May 2021, stood at Ghs 282 million ($46.9 million).
Given that the exchange rate of the SDR to a dollar is 0.70, this implies that the actual SDR holdings of BoG is $67 million.
The significant increase in the Bank’s SDR holdings with the IMF in a month – April to May – follows the repayment of the Bank’s Ghs 7.18 million ($1.2 million) SDR debt owed the Bretton Wood institution.
The Central Bank in April this year depleted its Special Drawing Rights holdings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) SDR holdings with the IMF as at the end of the first quarter of 2021 stood at Ghs 60.13 million ($10.3 million).
But a perusal of the BoG’s Statistical Bulletin for April 2021 revealed that the Bank’s SDR holdings with the IMF had been diminished with the Bank being indebted to the IMF.
The BoG had used up its SDR holdings of Ghs 60.13 million ($10 million) and was indebted to the IMF by some Ghs 7.18 million ($1.2 million).
Must Read: Bank of Ghana depletes SDR holdings with IMF
Compared to Q4 2020, the BoG’s SDR holdings decreased by some Ghs 88.18 million ($15.1 million), as the total SDR holdings at end-December 2020 stood at Ghs 148.31 million ($25.6 million).
Prior to that, the Bank’s holdings declined by some $16.6 million from Ghs 242.39 million ($42.2 million) to Ghs 148.31 million ($25.6 million) within the space of one month – November 2020 to December 2020.
Special Drawing Rights (SDR) are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund.
SDRs are units of account for the IMF, and not a currency per se. They represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged
Latest data indicate that the IMF’s SDR has an exchange rate of 0.70 to the dollar.
Meanwhile, the BoG’s Statistical Bulletin for May 2021 indicates that, foreign securities of the Bank as at the end of May 2021, amounted to Ghs 38.5 billion, a marginal increase of Ghs 145,000 from the May 2021 value of Ghs 38.4 billion.
Other foreign assets of the BoG such as foreign currency and balance with banks also recorded an increase of Ghs 2.1 billion ending the month of May with a value of Ghs 18 billion from a value of Ghs 15.9 billion in April.
Gold and ‘other assets’ held by the BoG, recorded no change in value at the end of May. Value for the BoG’s gold and other assets stood at Ghs 2.15 billion and Ghs 249 million respectively.
