Minority: GoldBod’s response on $214m loss lacks transparency

The Minority in Parliament has criticised the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) over what it describes as a lack of transparency following reports of losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana under the Gold-for-Reserves programme.

The criticism follows an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, which indicated that the Bank of Ghana recorded losses of about $214 million from the programme.

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

In response to the IMF report, Sammy Gyamfi, the Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, dismissed the claims as inaccurate, describing them as based on misconceptions about the Board’s operations. In a statement shared on social media, he said GoldBod had not recorded any losses under its gold trading programmes and was on course to declare an income surplus of not less than GH¢600 million for the 2025 financial year, based on unaudited financial statements published on the Board’s website.

However, addressing journalists on Thursday, January 8, Deputy Minority Leader Patricia Appiagyei rejected GoldBod’s explanation, arguing that it failed to address the substance of the IMF’s findings.

She questioned why GoldBod chose to deny the reported losses instead of probing them.

“The IMF found the $214 million losses in the actual gold trading operations, and GoldBod’s response was to show us agency fees and call it a surplus. That is not transparency; this is misdirection,” she said.

Mr Gyamfi has maintained 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.

He stressed that the trading and sale of gold to off-takers fall exclusively under the mandate of the central bank.

He further stated that GoldBod is not aware of any $214 million 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.