BoG is ‘technically bankrupt’ due to GoldBod operations – Afenyo Markin

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has raised fresh concerns about the financial position of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), claiming that losses associated with gold purchasing operations were a major factor behind the central bank’s negative equity position.

Speaking to the media in Parliament, the Effutu MP cited figures he attributed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and argued that the financial implications of the gold operations require urgent public scrutiny.

“Our central bank is technically bankrupt; therefore, the single biggest driver of that collapse in 2025 was gold operations, gold bought.”

Afenyo-Markin said the scale of the alleged losses could not be dismissed as an ordinary accounting issue. He argued that the figures point to deeper challenges in the management of the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and its impact on the central bank.

He specifically cited an IMF assessment which, according to him, indicated that 17 percent of the value of every ounce of gold sold by the Bank of Ghana was lost.

“The IMF tells us that 17 percent of the value of every ounce of gold sold by the Bank of Ghana simply disappeared.”

According to the Minority Leader, the losses were linked to differences between the rates used to purchase gold and the rates applied by the Bank of Ghana for accounting purposes, alongside other costs associated with the gold transactions.

He rejected any suggestion that the reported figures represented minor discrepancies or temporary challenges.

“This is not rounding error. This is not teething trouble. This is a structural bleeding of our national peace and it was not the opposition that found it. I repeat, it was the IMF’s own economists and the government has accepted that indeed these losses are true.”

Afenyo-Markin also referred to what he said was the IMF’s assessment of the Bank of Ghana’s equity position at the end of 2025.

“By the fund’s own numbers, the Bank of Ghana’s equity stood at negative 93.8 billion CD at the end of last year, negative 6.7 percent of GDP.”

He said the figures should prompt closer examination of the financial arrangements surrounding the gold programme, particularly the relationship between the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod).

The Minority has been questioning how losses associated with gold purchasing and trading could affect the central bank while GoldBod has maintained that its own audited accounts show a financial surplus.

Afenyo-Markin said the Minority’s concerns go beyond GoldBod’s reported profit and centre on the underlying transactions and costs that may have contributed to the losses reflected on the Bank of Ghana’s books.

The Minority has subsequently indicated its intention to file a fresh parliamentary motion seeking an investigation into the alleged $1.7 billion losses linked to GoldBod’s gold purchasing and trading operations.

The proposed probe, according to the Minority, would seek to establish how the losses occurred, examine the transactions involved and determine their implications for the Bank of Ghana and the wider economy.