GoldBod rejects IMF claims of $214m losses under gold-for-reserves programme

The Ghana Gold Board, GoldBod, has rejected claims contained in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report suggesting that the Bank of Ghana incurred losses of about 214 million dollars under the Gold-for-Reserves programme.

The IMF had flagged the reported losses as a potential downside risk to Ghana’s broader macroeconomic stabilisation efforts, attributing them to transactions involving artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) dore gold, as well as what it described as “GoldBod off-taker fees”.

However, in a detailed response issued on social media, the Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, described the claims as inaccurate and based on misconceptions about the Board’s operations.

According to him, GoldBod has not recorded any losses under its gold trading programmes. Instead, the institution is on course to declare an income surplus of not less than six hundred million cedis for the 2025 financial year, based on unaudited financial statements published on its website.

Mr Gyamfi explained that GoldBod’s role in 2025 has been limited to the local purchasing, assaying and export of gold on behalf of the Bank of Ghana, stressing that the trading and sale of gold to off-takers falls exclusively under the mandate of the central bank.

He further noted that GoldBod is not aware of any 214-million-dollar loss incurred by the Bank of Ghana under the Gold-for-Reserves programme, adding that the financial statements for both the Gold-for-Reserves and Gold-for-Forex programmes are yet to be audited.

Addressing the IMF’s reference to “GoldBod off-taker fees”, the GoldBod CEO stated that no such fees exist under the ASM gold trading programme. He clarified that GoldBod does not deal with off-takers and does not charge any off-taker fees, explaining that all off-take agreements are negotiated and implemented solely by the Bank of Ghana.

He added that the only charges GoldBod receives from the Bank of Ghana are a statutory assay fee of 0.25 percent and a service charge of 0.5 percent—fees inherited from a 2023 gold purchase agreement between the Bank of Ghana and the former Precious Minerals Marketing Company.

According to him, these charges have not been increased in 2025, while commissions paid to licensed buyers are borne entirely by the central bank.

Mr Gyamfi also highlighted GoldBod’s contribution to Ghana’s foreign exchange inflows, stating that the Board generated over 10 billion dollars in forex in 2025 alone through the local purchase of more than 100 tonnes of ASM gold for the Bank of Ghana. He added that GoldBod also purchases 20 percent of the output of nine large-scale mining companies to support the country’s gold reserves.

He argued that these inflows, among other factors, have contributed to an increase in Ghana’s gross international reserves to about 12 billion dollars in 2025, from 9 billion dollars in 2016, while also supporting the recent appreciation of the cedi and easing inflationary pressures.

Looking ahead, the GoldBod CEO disclosed that the Board will fully take over the ASM gold trading programme from January 2026. Under the new arrangement, GoldBod will be responsible for the purchasing, trading and sale of gold, with no fee obligations to the Bank of Ghana.

He expressed confidence that the new structure will further strengthen Ghana’s gold trading framework and deliver positive returns for the economy