Ghana's Gold-Buying Programme Loses Over $1.7Bln as Cedi Surges

Ghana's central bank, the Bank of Ghana, lost over $1.7 billion in 2025 running its gold-buying programme, known as Gold for Reserves (G4R), according to a report from the International Monetary Fund.

The losses, which equalled 1.5% of Ghana's gross domestic product, were primarily due to service and assay fees paid to GoldBod, discounts on gold sold to off-takers, and exchange-rate losses arising from the gap between the forex bureau rate used to buy gold and the cedi reference rate used in the central bank's accounts.

The IMF report noted that while part of the losses reflected accounting valuation effects rather than direct economic costs, they had weakened the central bank's balance sheet and led to transfers to recipients of foreign exchange sold at the reference rate.

Despite the financial toll, the Fund credited the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme with strengthening Ghana's external position. The programme helped surge gold-related inflows from $1.7 billion in 2023 to $12.7 billion in 2025, including $1.1 billion in net gains from bullion sales.