The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has vehemently rejected claims of a $1.7 billion loss in 2025 for the state-owned gold-buying institution, asserting it’s a ‘barefaced lie’ and challenging Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin to provide concrete evidence. This escalating controversy has ignited a fierce debate within the Ghanaian economic landscape, particularly concerning GoldBod’s financial standing and the implications for Ghana’s gold sector. The core of the narrative revolves around the Auditor-General’s report, which details a robust operational surplus of GH¢907 million and an overall surplus of GH¢5.4 billion, representing a significant portion of the institution’s assets. This report, meticulously prepared by the Auditor-General, forms the foundation of GoldBod’s annual audited financial statements, a document critical for understanding the board’s financial health and accountability. The 2025 report, published on August 19, 2026, presents a starkly positive picture, showcasing a substantial financial achievement – the GoldBod recorded an operational surplus of GH¢5.4 billion, a figure that underscores the institution’s continued role in stabilizing the gold market and supporting the government’s gold recovery efforts. This figure, however, is significantly higher than previous years, demanding a thorough examination of the factors driving this change.
GoldBod’s financial figures, meticulously documented in the 2025 Auditor-General’s report, highlight a clear trend of increased revenue and expenditure. The report reveals that the operational surplus of GH¢907 million was primarily derived from revenue generated from the institution’s own operations, with approximately GH¢109 million representing expenditures. This revenue stream is largely attributable to the GoldBod’s gold buying activities, reflecting its central role in the processing and trading of gold. The report emphasizes that the surplus of GH¢5.4 billion is a result of a combination of factors, including the sale of gold and the associated gold recoveries. The 2025 report details that GoldBod’s revenue from gold transactions, including the sale of gold to off-takers, accounted for approximately 70% of the total revenue.
Furthermore, the report details a significant portion of the surplus, amounting to GH¢4.5 billion, which was allocated as a revolving seed capital budget for the 2025 fiscal year. This seed capital was intended to support the establishment of the GoldBod, a new institution designed to modernize the gold recovery process and strengthen Ghana’s gold industry. The report confirms that the seed capital was credited to the institution’s accounts on or about December 30, 2025, signifying a key milestone in the institution’s development. The establishment of GoldBod, intended to streamline the gold recovery process and improve transparency, was a key element of the government’s strategy to bolster Ghana’s gold sector. The report notes that the GoldBod’s role under the Gold Purchase Agreement, signed in September 2023, was primarily focused on buying and aggregating gold on agreed terms, with no involvement in determining selling prices or sale terms.
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, during a parliamentary session, directly challenged the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, to provide evidence for his assertions about GoldBod’s financial performance. He emphasized that the allegations of losses in 2025 are a ‘barefaced lie’ and has emphasized the institution’s commitment to transparency and accountability. The allegations, which have circulated within the media, suggest that the alleged losses were a result of the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) incurring losses of $1.7 billion, representing approximately 1.5% of GDP. However, the report explicitly states that the IMF report, as referenced in the 2025 report, did not accuse GoldBod of causing these losses, instead attributing them to the scaling up of the DGPP.
The report further clarifies that the IMF report indicates that the Bank of Ghana incurred a loss of $400 million from gold sales under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in the year 2024. The IMF attributed this loss to a combination of factors, including service fees paid to Gold Bod, discounts on gold sold to off-takers, and exchange rate losses from the spread between forex bureau rates paid to purchase gold and the cedi reference rates used for BoG accounting. The report underscores that fees were not free money, but legitimate charges for services rendered.
Mr. Gyamfi pointed out that the fees in question, an assay fee of 0.258 per cent and a service fee of 0.5 per cent, constituted less than 1 per cent of the 17 per cent loss reported by the IMF. He argued that both fees were not ‘free money’ but legitimate charges for services rendered. The report highlights that the fees were not ‘free money’; as the name suggests, they are standard fees charged to cover the cost of services rendered.
The report also emphasizes that the GoldBod’s role under the Gold Purchase Agreement was limited to the buying agent function, with responsibility for the transactions. It was not involved in determining selling prices or sale terms. The report concludes by stating that the Minority Leader must invite GoldBod to answer questions on the matter. The Minority Leader, James Agalpa, defended GoldBod’s financial position, arguing that the institution must account for the losses, asserting that it cannot claim credit for foreign exchange gains while distancing itself from the costs and losses arising from the same transactions. The Minority Leader warned that if GoldBod fails to heed the advice, ‘post-regime accountability awaits them’. He stated that the Minority would file a motion upon Parliament’s resumption to compel GoldBod management to account for the losses.
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Source: Graphic Online
