Dr. Johnson Asiama, BoG Governor and Sammy Gyamfi
An independent technical report has concluded that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has delivered substantial macroeconomic benefits to the economy, far outweighing the trading losses often highlighted in public debate.
The report, titled “Evaluating the Macroeconomic Effects of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod)”, was presented to GoldBod on January 4, 2026, by a team of economists from the University of Ghana and the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).
The authors are Prof. Festus Ebo Turkson and Peter Junior Dotse of the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, and Prof. Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako of the Department of Finance, UGBS.
Using conservative assumptions and verifiable data, the study assesses GoldBod’s macroeconomic impact by comparing quantifiable benefits, especially reduced gold smuggling and non-debt foreign exchange inflows, with the reported trading losses of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The report concluded that GoldBod should be viewed not as a profit-driven trading entity, but as a high-return policy tool for macroeconomic stabilisation and formalisation.
One of the report’s central findings is that GoldBod has significantly reduced gold smuggling by formalising artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) exports.
According to the report, recorded ASM gold exports increased from 63.6 tonnes in 2024 to 103.0 tonnes in 2025, representing an incremental 39.4 tonnes.
The authors argued that this increase plausibly reflects gold previously lost to smuggling but now captured within the formal economy.
Valued conservatively at US$96.5 million per tonne, the formalised gold translated into approximately US$3.8 billion in additional foreign exchange entering the country’s formal system in 2025 alone.
The report directly compared these gains with the BoG trading loss of about US$214 million reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On this basis, it estimated a benefit–cost ratio of roughly 18 to 1. In practical terms, the report noted that formalising just 2.2 tonnes of gold would have been sufficient to offset the reported loss, while the actual scale of formalisation achieved was about eighteen times higher.
Beyond this comparison, the report highlighted major financing savings arising from GoldBod-enabled non-debt foreign exchange inflows.
The report said ASM gold exports facilitated by GoldBod in 2025 are estimated at US$10.8 billion.
Had Ghana sought to mobilise an equivalent amount of foreign exchange through external borrowing, the report estimated that annual interest costs would have ranged between US$756 million and US$1.08 billion, based on borrowing rates of 7 to 10 per cent.
The report said even when the analysis is limited to the plausible reduction in gold smuggling, avoided annual interest costs are estimated at between US$266 million and US$380 million.
The report stressed that these savings are recurring annual benefits rather than one-off gains.
According to the authors, GoldBod-supported foreign exchange inflows have also generated broader macroeconomic gains.
These include higher international reserves estimated at between US$11 billion and US$12 billion, exchange-rate stabilisation and appreciation relative to IMF budget assumptions, and a reduction in the domestic cost of external debt service estimated at about GH¢6.2 billion.
The strengthened external position also helped lower the cedi value of imports between January and October 2025 by an estimated GH¢50.6 billion and supported disinflation through reduced exchange-rate pass-through.
The report further explains why the reported BoG “loss” is often misunderstood. It argued that much of the headline figure reflects accounting translation effects rather than actual cash losses.
Gold is purchased at near-retail exchange rates to prevent smuggling, but the resulting foreign exchange inflows must be booked at the lower interbank rate, creating an accounting gap.
The true economic cost of the programme, covering fees, purity losses and offtake discounts, is estimated at about 2.5 per cent of gold value, far lower than the headline loss figures frequently cited, the report pointed out.
BoG Details Gold Programme Losses
Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has released official data on the performance of its Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), outlining gold volumes acquired since 2021 and the associated accounting losses recorded under the initiative.
The disclosure, contained in a letter dated January 12, 2026, was issued by the Financial Markets Department of the central bank in response to a request for information from The Multimedia Group.
According to the BoG, the DGPP, which began in June 2021, is a strategic programme aimed at promoting currency stability, which is one of the Bank’s core mandates, by increasing and diversifying the nation’s foreign exchange reserves and strengthening confidence in the economy through improved reserve buffers.
The data show a steady rise in gold purchases over the four-year period, particularly from artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM).
In 2022, the Bank acquired 0.76 tonnes of ASM gold, contributing to a total gold purchase of 3.47 tonnes valued at US$194.43 million. Associated losses for that year stood at GH¢74.44 million.
In 2023, ASM gold purchases rose sharply to 24.87 tonnes, with total gold acquisitions reaching 37.02 tonnes valued at US$1.55 billion. Losses recorded under Net G40 and Net G4R transactions amounted to a combined GH¢1.37 billion.
The upward trend continued in 2024, with ASM gold purchases increasing to 45.33 tonnes and total gold acquisitions reaching 56.47 tonnes. The total value of gold purchased that year stood at US$4.07 billion, while combined losses under the programme rose to GH¢5.66 billion.
For 2025, the Bank reported a significant expansion in activity. ASM gold purchases climbed to 100.60 tonnes, with total gold acquisitions reaching 110.99 tonnes valued at US$11.4 billion.
However, the BoG noted that loss figures for 2025 are still pending external audit confirmation and have therefore not yet been published.
The Bank clarified that losses recorded under Net G40 include losses from both gold and oil transactions conducted under the programme, while Net G4R losses relate to ASM gold as well as other segments of the Gold for Reserves (G4R) initiative.
It further explained that total losses for ASM gold alone amounted to GH¢74 million in 2022, GH¢2.15 billion in 2023 and GH¢4.84 billion in 2024, based on final audited accounts.
A Daily Guide Report