GoldBod’s September FX windfall largely strengthened Ghana’s reserves, but October’s allocation signals a sharper shift towards supplying commercial banks with dollars, reports Jon Offei-Ansah
GHANA’S gold-backed foreign exchange strategy is entering a new phase, with far more GoldBod-generated dollars set to flow through commercial banks in October after September’s stronger-than-expected earnings were largely used to build central-bank reserves.
The Ghana Gold Board, known as GoldBod, said it generated $1.871bn from artisanal and small-scale gold trading in September, beating its $1.4bn target by $471m.
But the more revealing part of the announcement is not simply how much foreign exchange GoldBod generated. It is where the money went — and where it is expected to go next.
September windfall went to reserves
GoldBod began September expecting a broadly even split.
Its target was to generate $1.4bn, with $700m supplied to authorised commercial banks and another $700m made available to the Bank of Ghana for reserve accumulation.
What happened was noticeably different.
Commercial banks received $701.3m, almost exactly what had been planned. The Bank of Ghana, however, received $1.170bn.
That means virtually all of the $471m generated above GoldBod’s original September target ended up strengthening Ghana’s reserves rather than providing extra dollars to commercial banks.
The result shows how central gold has become to Ghana’s foreign-exchange strategy.
Africa Briefing has previously reported how strong gold exports have helped reinforce Ghana’s external position, with bullion earnings becoming an increasingly important source of foreign currency.
GoldBod sees a wider role
GoldBod has repeatedly argued that its operations should be judged by more than the profit or loss attached to individual gold transactions.
Chief Executive Sammy Gyamfi said in August that the institution’s contribution should also be measured by its ability to generate foreign exchange and support economic stability.
‘Together with the Bank of Ghana, we helped in generating over US$10.8bn in foreign exchange earnings from the purchase and export of artisanal and small-scale mining gold, and that helped the Bank of Ghana to intermediate about US$10.6 billion for the market,’ Gyamfi said.
He also credited those inflows with supporting the foreign-exchange market and the cedi, although those claims represent GoldBod’s assessment of its wider economic impact rather than an independent attribution.
GoldBod has meanwhile described its newer financing model as providing banks with ‘a critical source of foreign exchange’ as it seeks to increase foreign-exchange liquidity through commercial banks.
That matters because commercial banks remain the main formal channel through which businesses and individuals obtain dollars for imports, payments and other transactions.
October changes the balance
The October plan points to a significant change in emphasis.
GoldBod expects to generate $1.5bn next month, with $1bn earmarked for commercial banks and up to $500m going to the Bank of Ghana.
If that target is met, roughly two-thirds of GoldBod’s October foreign exchange would flow to commercial banks.
That compares with about 37 percent of the September total.
In other words, September was overwhelmingly about reserve accumulation. October looks much more focused on getting dollars into the domestic banking system.
That could become increasingly important if demand for foreign currency strengthens towards the end of the year.
The shift also shows how GoldBod is evolving beyond its original role in gold purchases. Its operations are now closely tied to three broader policy goals: generating foreign exchange, supporting reserve accumulation and improving dollar liquidity in the banking system.
Reserves remain an important buffer
Ghana’s reserves remain considerably stronger than they were during the country’s recent economic crisis, although they have moved lower from earlier peaks this year.
Bank of Ghana data for September showed gross international reserves of $12.048bn as of September 22, equivalent to 4.5 months of import cover.
That compares with $11.071bn and 4.2 months of import cover in the previous reference period shown in the central bank’s data.
Gold remains a major part of that external buffer, with the same dataset valuing official gold holdings at about $3.565bn.
Africa Briefing has also examined how Ghana’s GoldBod model is attracting interest elsewhere in Africa as governments look for ways to retain more value from gold production and formalise mineral trading.
Old gold programme left heavy losses
The expansion of Ghana’s gold strategy has nevertheless come with substantial costs.
An IMF review of Ghana’s economic programme found that the Bank of Ghana’s former Domestic Gold Purchase Programme generated losses of more than $1.7bn in 2025, equivalent to about 1.5 percent of GDP.
The IMF said the losses reflected service and assay fees, discounts on gold sales and, most significantly, exchange-rate losses.
But an important distinction is that the structure has since changed.
Under the revised gold-purchase arrangement outlined by the IMF, GoldBod and the government took over the programme’s operations and costs from July 2026, removing the Bank of Ghana from direct exposure to new gold-purchase operating losses.
Gyamfi has defended the wider policy rationale behind the programme.
‘Nobody buys gold at spot prices and yet seeks profit,’ he said in August, arguing that the programme was intended primarily to mobilise foreign exchange and support economic stability.
GoldBod has maintained that the costs of the domestic gold programme should be weighed against its wider stabilisation role.
That debate — between the economic benefits claimed by GoldBod and the costs identified by the IMF — remains central to assessing whether Ghana’s gold strategy is sustainable over the longer term.
Africa Briefing previously examined those tensions in its coverage of the scrutiny surrounding Ghana’s gold purchase programme.
What October will test
The next test is not simply whether GoldBod reaches its $1.5bn target.
It is whether directing twice as much foreign exchange towards commercial banks as towards the central bank makes dollars easier to obtain in the wider economy without undermining Ghana’s reserve position.
September showed that GoldBod could outperform its target and use the extra inflows to strengthen reserves.
October will test the other side of the model: whether those gold-generated dollars can also become a reliable source of liquidity for businesses and the banking system.
That may ultimately prove more important than September’s headline $1.871bn figure.