Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has claimed that the financial position of the Bank of Ghana in 2025 was significantly weaker than officially reported, arguing that proceeds from gold sales were used to cushion the impact of heavy operational losses.
In a detailed Facebook post on Friday, May 1, the Karaga MP argued that the central bank’s reported GH¢15.6 billion net loss did not fully reflect its underlying financial challenges because gains from the sale of gold reserves were recognised as income.
Dr Amin Adam stated that the Bank reportedly sold about 18 tonnes of gold reserves, generating around GH¢40.3 billion in proceeds and a net gain of GH¢9.57 billion.
He contended that the gains were transferred from equity into the profit and loss account, thereby softening the scale of the reported deficit.
“If these gold gains had not been recognised in the profit and loss account, the loss would have exceeded GH¢25 billion,” he wrote, adding that the figure could potentially be higher depending on the treatment of gold transactions.
The former Finance Minister questioned the rationale behind the gold sales, saying the explanation that the transaction was intended to rebalance reserves did not align with the country’s previous policy direction of building gold reserves.
According to him, the financial statements suggest the sales were necessary to support the Bank’s monetary policy operations.
He pointed specifically to sterilisation costs, which he said reached GH¢16.73 billion in 2025.
“The Bank’s ‘strong policy solvency position’ in 2025 was specifically underpinned by a substantial inflow from bullion gold sales,” he quoted from the financial report.
Dr Amin Adam argued that without the gold sales, the Bank’s operating income would have been inadequate to absorb those costs.
He also used the occasion to defend the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme introduced during the previous administration led by former Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
He said the programme had become “a major buffer” for the central bank, despite criticism from the current administration.
The Karaga MP further accused the current management of the central bank of relying on accounting measures to conceal deeper structural weaknesses.
“Using gold reserves to offset operational losses does not eliminate the problem — it only masks it,” he wrote.
He warned that the strategy could delay necessary policy adjustments and obscure the true cost of monetary interventions.