Ghana's Gold Boom Fuels Central Bank Woes as Recapitalisation Plan Unfolds
Ghana is enjoying one of its best gold years in history, but it's also dealing with uncomfortable balance sheet headaches. The country's gold exports pushed total exports to an all-time high of roughly US$21 billion in 2025, more than double the previous year's figure, and lifted gross international reserves from about US$9.1 billion to somewhere between US$11.9 billion and US$13.8 billion.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) recorded a net loss of about GH¢15.6 billion for 2025 and closed the year with negative equity approaching GH¢94-96 billion. Parliament is now locked in a public argument with the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) over whether as much as GH¢22 billion of that pain was avoidable.
GoldBod's mandate was designed to fix the patchwork market under one roof, choke off smuggling by making trade outside the official system a criminal offence, build a nationwide traceability system, and channel more gold into official reserves and export earnings rather than into informal or foreign hands. On its own terms, that mission is succeeding.
The trouble is not gold itself, but how buying it was financed. The Domestic Debt Exchange Programme absorbed enormous impairment losses on the central bank's balance sheet, which remains the single biggest historical driver of BoG's negative equity. Layered on top of this is the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), through which the Bank expanded its buying of domestic gold to build reserves.
The IMF put the loss from the DGPP at more than US$1.7 billion, about GH¢22 billion, or roughly 1.5 percent of GDP. A central bank cannot go bankrupt like a commercial bank can, but a large, opaque loss can still quietly erode public trust in the institution meant to protect the value of the cedi.
The Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612, as amended), requires the government to recapitalise the central bank. A Memorandum of Understanding signed in January 2025 sets out a phased recapitalisation running from 2026 to 2032, giving BoG a credible, scheduled path back toward a healthier balance sheet.