Gyamfi clarifies alleged BoG Gold Programme losses, rejects claims of GoldBod mismanagement

By Hubeyidatu Mumuni 

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has rejected claims that the institution was responsible for significant financial losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) under its Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).

Gyamfi said recent media reports on the issue had misrepresented findings contained in International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports, arguing that the reported losses were largely associated with the expansion of the gold purchase programme, exchange-rate effects and accounting treatment.

According to him, the IMF reported that the BoG incurred losses of US$400 million in 2024 and US$1.7 billion in 2025 through gold sales under the DGPP.

He explained that the IMF specifically attributed the 2025 loss to the scaling up of the domestic gold purchase programme and not to incompetence or mismanagement.

“The Bank of Ghana incurred losses through the sale of gold under its Domestic Gold Purchase Programme of $400 million in the year 2024 and $1.7 billion in the year 2025. And that the 2025 loss of $1.7 billion was as a result of—and I am quoting the IMF verbatim—‘the scaling up of the domestic gold purchases program,’ not incompetence or mismanagement,” he said.

Gyamfi further disputed reports suggesting that GoldBod was directly responsible for the losses, explaining that fees paid to the Gold Board were only one of several factors identified by the IMF as contributing to the accounting losses.

“The IMF also stated that these accounting losses partly reflect valuation effects. In particularizing what the IMF considers to be components of this loss, the IMF listed three things, which included fees paid to the Gold Board under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme. This is the true context within which the name of the Gold Board featured relative to losses under the DGPP in the IMF reports,” he stated.

He also cited page 27, paragraph 50 of the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF) report, which discusses the role of the DGPP in helping the BoG accumulate reserves and provide foreign exchange to the private sector.

According to Gyamfi, although the report acknowledges losses generated through the programme, it does not accuse GoldBod of causing the BoG’s losses.

“The DGPP, on which the BoG relied to accumulate reserves to intermediate FX to the private sector, has generated losses… Nowhere in this report is GoldBod accused as having caused any loss incurred by the Bank of Ghana,” he said.

Gyamfi further referred to Paragraph 13 of the IMF Selected Issues report, which outlines the factors behind the reported US$400 million and US$1.7 billion losses.

He said the IMF identified service and assay fees paid to GoldBod, discounts on gold sold to off-takers and, most importantly, exchange-rate losses resulting from the difference between foreign exchange bureau rates used to purchase gold and the cedi reference rate used for BoG accounting.

“Losses accrued on gold trades are a combination of service and assay fees paid to GoldBoard, discounts on gold sold to off-takers, and most importantly, exchange rate losses from the spread between foreign exchange bureau rates paid to purchase gold and the Cedi reference rate used for BoG accounting. These accounting losses partly reflect valuation effects rather than economic cost,” he said.

Gyamfi has consequently challenged journalists, fact-checkers and economic analysts to rely on the original IMF documents when assessing the financial performance of the DGPP and GoldBod’s role in the programme.

He maintained that a careful reading of the IMF reports shows that the reported figures should not be interpreted as evidence that GoldBod caused the BoG’s losses, stressing the distinction between accounting losses, valuation effects and actual economic costs.