GoldBod Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi has strongly defended Ghana’s Gold-for-Reserves (G4R) programme, insisting that what critics describe as “losses” are intentional strategic costs that have delivered substantial national economic gains.
Speaking during a panel discussion on Joy NewsFile, Mr Gyamfi explained that the G4R policy was never designed as a profit-making venture. Rather, it was introduced by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in response to a deep macroeconomic crisis that had left the country unable to borrow foreign currency to stabilise the cedi.
“The Bank of Ghana did not wake up one day and say we want to trade gold for profit,” he said. “The purpose of the programme has always been foreign exchange accumulation to meet market FX needs and build reserves for national economic stability.”
Mr Gyamfi traced the origins of the policy to 2022, when Ghana defaulted on its debt amid inflation of about 54%, currency depreciation of more than 50% and exclusion from international capital markets. With borrowing no longer an option, the central bank adopted a strategy of buying locally produced gold in cedis and selling it for dollars to supply the market and rebuild reserves.
Under the programme, BoG buys gold at spot price to incentivise traders to sell to the state rather than export through informal channels. Mr Gyamfi said this inevitably created costs for the central bank, including offtake discounts, aggregator fees and losses arising from gold purity assessments.
“These are costs the Bank of Ghana knowingly accepted,” he said. “They are intentional and strategic expenses for superior economic benefits.”
He rejected claims that such costs amounted to mismanagement, arguing that the benefits dwarfed the expenses. According to him, the programme has generated about 10.8 billion dollars in foreign exchange inflows, enabling Ghana to meet its 2028 foreign-reserve target three years ahead of schedule.
“For the first time in about three decades, the Ghana cedi has appreciated annually against its trading currencies, by about 40 per cent,” Mr Gyamfi said. He noted that the retail dollar rate had fallen from around 16 cedis to below 12, while the interbank rate declined from about 14.7 to roughly 10.4.
He also cited broader macroeconomic improvements, including a reduction in external debt by more than 100 billion cedis, a fall in debt-to-GDP from 61 per cent to 45 per cent, and a drop in the Ghana Reference Rate from 28 per cent to 15.9 per cent. Inflation, he said, had declined for 11 consecutive months, from 23.8 per cent to 6.3 per cent, with food inflation falling from 27.8 per cent to 6.6 per cent.
Mr Gyamfi argued that currency stability alone had generated massive savings for the state and consumers. He said Ghana saved over 16 billion cedis in debt servicing because of the stronger cedi, including about 3.5 billion cedis on a recent 709-million-dollar Eurobond payment. Importers and consumers, he added, saved an estimated 50–60 billion cedis on imports valued at 11.8 billion dollars by September.
Addressing claims of large G4R losses, Mr Gyamfi explained that about 97 per cent of the reported losses were accounting translation differences. Gold is bought at informal retail exchange rates, but dollar proceeds must be converted at the lower interbank rate for accounting purposes, creating what appears as a loss on paper.
The remaining cost, he said, was about 2.3 per cent, covering discounts, fees and purity losses. “An accountant is right to call it an accounting loss, but economically it is a policy cost for superior national benefits,” he said.
He contrasted current performance with earlier years, noting that in 2022 only 76 kilogrammes of gold were bought at a cost of 74 million cedis, while in 2023 and 2024, losses rose sharply despite lower volumes than in 2025. This year, he said, Ghana purchased 103 tonnes of gold and generated 10.8 billion dollars, with costs declining despite higher volumes.
Looking ahead, Mr Gyamfi said a new GoldBod model to be rolled out in 2026 would allow the board to act as both buyer and seller, enabling more effective trading. He added that discussions were underway with fiscal authorities on burden-sharing to address concerns raised by the International Monetary Fund.
“The IMF has commended the programme for strengthening reserves,” he said, “but wants to ensure the cost does not threaten the Bank of Ghana’s financial sustainability.”