The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has announced plans to assume full control of the country’s artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold trading programme from January 2026, a move expected to end ongoing concerns about fees and strengthen Ghana’s economic position.
Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, said the Board’s operations in 2025 have largely been transitional, with GoldBod acting mainly as an agent of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
“The GoldBod is barely eight months old. Its operations in 2025 have largely been one of an agent role for the BoG,” he said in a social media post.
Under the current arrangement, GoldBod is responsible for the local purchase, assay and export of gold on behalf of the central bank, while the trading and sale of the gold remain the exclusive responsibility of the Bank of Ghana.
“The selling or trading of gold purchased by GoldBod to off-takers lies in the exclusive domain of the BoG,” Mr Gyamfi explained.
He noted that concerns surrounding GoldBod’s fees and their alleged impact on the Bank of Ghana’s accounts would no longer arise once the new structure takes effect.
“The GoldBod is set to fully take over the ASM gold trading programme effective January 2026,” he announced. “Under this new arrangement, the Board will be solely responsible for the purchasing, trading and sale of gold under the programme, with no fee obligation to the BoG.”
“As a result, the issue of GoldBod’s fees and charges and their impact on BoG’s books will be a thing of the past in 2026,” he added.
Despite its current agency role, Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod has already made a significant contribution to Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings.
“It remains an indisputable fact that the GoldBod has generated over 10 billion US dollars in foreign exchange for the country in 2025 alone from its local purchasing of over 100 tonnes of ASM gold for the BoG,” he stated.
He further disclosed that GoldBod also purchases 20 percent of the gold output of nine large-scale mining companies on behalf of the Bank of Ghana to help build national gold reserves.
According to Mr Gyamfi, these efforts have contributed to notable improvements in Ghana’s macroeconomic indicators, including foreign reserves and currency performance.
“This, coupled with other factors, has led to a historic increase in the country’s foreign reserves from 9 billion dollars in 2016 to a record high of about 12 billion dollars in 2025,” he said.
He added that the cedi has appreciated by more than 35 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of the year, describing it as “the first time since 2007 that the cedi has appreciated against the US dollar.”