Ghana Central Bank Prioritizes Foreign Exchange Reserve Rebuilding Amid Gold Export Halt

The Bank of Ghana has made rebuilding its foreign exchange reserves a top priority amid a deteriorating current account and suspension of gold exports by state-owned buyer GoldBod. Governor Johnson Asiama stated this at the opening of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, noting that officials must weigh favorable domestic conditions against an unpredictable global environment.

The country's current account is weakening, and its foreign exchange reserves are shrinking. The Bank of Ghana has been working to strengthen its external buffers since 2022 through a domestic gold purchase programme. This initiative requires large-scale miners to sell 30 percent of their annual output to the central bank at a discount, helping push official gold holdings to 24.4 metric tons as of June 2026.

The programme has had notable macroeconomic effects, with GoldBod's operations generating over $10 billion in foreign exchange in 2025 and contributing to a 41 percent appreciation of the cedi against the US dollar that year. However, the programme has come at a significant cost, with losses exceeding $1.7 billion incurred by the Bank of Ghana in 2025, equivalent to 1.5 percent of GDP.