A former Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor, Alex Ashiagbor, who served from 1977 to 1982 has died, a family member has confirmed.
He passed on last Friday at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital in Accra after a short illness.
Mr. Ashiagbor was born in Ghana in December 1931 and held a BSc. Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics, University of London.
He graduated with a postgraduate Diploma in Business Finance and Economics from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and received professional training from the Bank of Israel and the East German Central Bank (Den Deutsche Notenbank).
Mr. Ashiagbor once served as a diplomat, having served for 11 years as Director, Commodities Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and Director, United Nations Program for Africa.
Before his diplomatic career, he was a Senior Principal Secretary for five years in the Ministry of Finance and Senior Economist for four years in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from where he was recalled by the government to head the Ministry of Finance as Senior Principal Secretary.
He also worked in the Central Bank of Ghana, starting with the Research Department and rising through the ranks to become Senior Adviser to the Governor, Executive Director, and then Governor in 1977. He retired as the Governor of the Central Bank in 1982.
Mr. Ashiagbor has consulted extensively for governments and international organizations.
He was the World Bank Consultant for the Ghana Financial Sector Adjustment Program (FINSAP), which restructured the banking sector, including the reorganization of balance sheets, sorting out bad debt portfolios, raising new capital, and strengthening management.
He has also served as a Director on Boards of several Ghanaian corporations, including Ashanti Goldfields (for which he was one-time the Chairman), Volta River Authority, Cocoa Marketing Board, Ghana National Trading Corporation, Ghana Commercial Bank, etc.
Mr. Ashiagbor has travelled widely, organizing and/or participating in major UN, World Bank and other international conferences. On numerous occasions, he was a member of high-level government delegations to international conferences.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana, and holds the “Order of the Star of Ghana (OSG)†in banking and public service.
Credit: myjoyonline