By Kebba A.F Touray
The 2021 and 2022 activity reports and audited financial statements of the Central Bank of the Gambia (CBG) disclosed that D12.5 billion was the currency amount in circulation during the 2021 fiscal year. The said reports were presented by the CBG Management before members of the Finance and Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly (FPAC) for scrutiny, consideration, and adoption on Thursday 29th May 2024.
According to the CBG Management, the asset distribution of the bankers’ bank over the last five years (2017 to 2021), started with an overall asset base of D24.3 billion in 2017, growing to D52.78 billion in 2021. It emphasized that zeroing in on 2021, out of the component of the D52.8 billion, D16.12 billion was in foreign currency and cash deposits.
“Receivable from the IMF was D4.6 Billion, and investment in security was D25.623 Billion. This basically is the investment we do with our counterparts that will continue to generate reserves for both the bank and the country,” the CBG Management said.
On investments, the report added that investments at the West African Central Bank were D359 million; receivable from Mega Bank was D300 million; and investments in their subsidiary which was Gamswitch, was D73.8 million, and at the time, they owned 50 percent of Gamswitch.
“Loans and advances were D4.6 Billion. Other assets were D489 million, while intangibles were D65 million,” CBG management reported.
The CBG management further explained that over time, there has been a significant increase in their asset base. It said the impressive part is that strategic assets, not just any asset, increased “while PPEs were not constantly increasing because they are not strategic assets.
Reporting on liabilities, the CBG management told FPAC that the liabilities and equity of the Bank were D24.3 billion, and said this grew to D52.78 billion; That from this amount in 2021, D12.5 Billion was the amount in circulation, with deposits at Commercial banks and the Gambia Government amounting to D19.9 Billion.
“Long-term loans from the IMF was D12.04 Billion; money market operations were D1 billion and the bank’s reserve in 2017, was D682 million, which remarkably increased to D5.9 million in 2017,” the CBG Management said.
On profitability of the CBG, the management informed FPAC that the interest on income as a percentage of net income in 2017 was 22 percent, but said this continued to increase in 2021 to 41 percent of interest income,” the CBG Management said. The CBG management said this indicates that the investments that the bank has been making in the strategic aspect of the assets are paying dividends, which is why the interest income is going up in 2021.
On the 2022 accounts of the bank, the CBG management reported that its asset base was D52.7 Billion and between the end of December 2021 and the end of December 2022, it grew from D52.7 billion to D55.9 billion, which is also a remarkable improvement.
“This is mainly investment in security which grew from D25.6 billion in 2021, to D29.7 billion in 2022. Loans and advances which was D4.6 billion in 2021, grew to D7.7 billion in 2022. Our Foreign currency cash balance and deposit dropped significantly from D16.125 Billion in 2021, to D11.24 Billion in 2022. The deposit decreased from D19.9 Billion in 2021 to D17.7 Billion in 2022, and the long-term loan from IMF increased from D12.045 Billion in 2021 to D15.124 Billion in 2022,” the CBG report concludes.
