A private citizen, Balbir Violet Allan, has dragged the Bank of Ghana and its former Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, to court over what she describes as gross mismanagement of the national currency, leading to significant exchange rate losses since 2017.
Allan, who identifies as an investor in government treasury instruments, claims the drastic fall in the value of the Ghanaian cedi—from 4.26 to the dollar in 2017 to 15.49 in 2025—has severely affected her purchasing power and resulted in notable investment losses.
In her suit, filed through law lecturer Dr. John Baiden, she is seeking a declaration from the High Court that the Bank of Ghana, under Dr. Addison’s leadership, was negligent in its statutory duty to maintain the stability of the cedi.
She argues that the central bank’s failure to manage the currency effectively caused wide-scale depreciation, culminating in what she describes as one of the world’s worst-performing currencies under Dr. Addison’s tenure.
The exchange rate at the time he went on terminal leave in February 2025 stood at 15.49 cedis to the dollar.
Allan is asking the court to hold both the Bank of Ghana and its former Governor accountable for the resulting financial losses, and to declare the exchange rate losses enforceable against them.
