The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has moved to clear the air over claims contained in a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report suggesting that the Bank of Ghana recorded losses of about $214 million under the Gold-for-Reserves programme.
According to GoldBod, the assertions highlighted in the IMF report, which identified the alleged losses as a potential risk to Ghana’s macroeconomic stabilisation efforts, require further clarification.
The report attributed the supposed losses to transactions involving artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) dore gold, as well as charges it referred to as “GoldBod off-taker fees.”
In a detailed statement, the Board said it welcomes feedback and constructive criticism but stressed the need to correct inaccurate narratives circulating in parts of the media.
GoldBod stated that it has not recorded any losses since commencing operations. On the contrary, it said unaudited financial statements published on its official website show the institution is on course to declare an income surplus of not less than GH¢600 million for the 2025 financial year.
According to the Board, its role in 2025 has been limited to the local purchase, assaying and export of gold on behalf of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
It explained that the actual sale or trading of the gold to off-takers falls entirely under the mandate of the central bank.
GoldBod also said it is unaware of any alleged loss of $214 million said to have been incurred by the BoG under the Gold for Reserves Programme due to so-called “GoldBod off-taker fees,” describing the claim as unfounded.
It noted that the financial accounts of the BoG’s Gold for Reserves and Gold for Forex programmes for 2025 are yet to be audited.
“For the record, there is nothing like ‘GoldBod off-taker fees’ under the ASM gold trading programme,” the statement said, emphasising that GoldBod does not deal with off-takers and does not charge any such fees. It explained that all off-take agreements are negotiated and executed solely by the Bank of Ghana, including any discounts granted for freight, insurance or refining costs.
The Board clarified that the only charges it receives from the BoG are a statutory assay fee of 0.25 per cent and a service charge of 0.5 per cent. It added that these fees were inherited from a 2023 Gold Purchase Agreement between the BoG and the now-defunct Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) and have not been increased in 2025. Commissions paid to licensed gold buyers, it stressed, are borne by the central bank.
GoldBod further highlighted what it described as its significant contribution to Ghana’s foreign exchange position. It said its operations accounted for more than $10 billion in foreign exchange inflows in 2025 alone, following the local purchase of over 100 tonnes of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold for the BoG. In addition, it noted that it purchases 20 per cent of the gold output of nine large-scale mining companies to help shore up national reserves.
The Board linked these inflows to a broader improvement in Ghana’s macroeconomic indicators, including an increase in gross international reserves from about $9 billion in 2016 to approximately $12 billion in 2025. It also cited a year-to-date appreciation of the cedi against the US dollar of over 35 per cent, describing it as the first such occurrence since 2007, with positive knock-on effects on inflation, debt servicing and the cost of living.
“What would have been the state of the Ghanaian economy today without the $10 billion FX inflows from just the ASM trade operations of the GoldBod this year?” the statement asked, adding that the full economic impact of its operations is “simply unquantifiable.”
GoldBod noted that it is barely eight months old and has largely operated as an agent of the Bank of Ghana in 2025. As a non-subvented state agency, it said the statutory assay and service fees form the bulk of its internally generated funds used to sustain its operations.
Looking ahead, the Board announced that it will fully take over the ASM gold trading programme from January 2026. Under the new arrangement, GoldBod will be responsible for purchasing, trading and selling gold directly, with no fee obligations to the Bank of Ghana.
“The issue of GoldBod’s fees and charges and their impact on BoG’s books will thus be a thing of the past in 2026,” the statement said, adding that the institution is ready to deploy its government-allocated revolving seed capital to deliver strong returns for the Ghanaian people.
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