Entrepreneur and economic policy analyst Senyo Kwasi Hosi has argued that the widely reported US$214 million cost associated with Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) should not be described as a loss, but rather as a deliberate economic policy cost that has delivered significant national benefits.
In a detailed policy paper titled “GoldBod: Loss or No Loss? The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing”, Mr Hosi explains that while the figure represents an accounting or trading loss on paper, it fails to capture the broader economic gains generated by the programme
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According to him, economic policy outcomes must be assessed beyond simple profit-and-loss calculations, especially when interventions are designed to stabilise the economy rather than generate commercial returns. He notes that Ghana’s gold sector, prior to the establishment of GoldBod, was plagued by widespread smuggling, with nearly one-third of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold leaving the country unaccounted for.
Using United Nations COMTRADE data, Mr Hosi points out that while Ghana officially reported US$4.8 billion in gold exports in 2022 and 2023, the United Arab Emirates alone recorded imports worth US$7.1 billion from Ghana, highlighting the scale of revenue leakage through smuggling
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He credits GoldBod and the DGPP for reversing this trend. Official ASM gold export volumes rose from 63.6 metric tonnes in 2024 to 101 metric tonnes by December 2025, a change he attributes largely to reduced smuggling rather than increased production
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Mr Hosi acknowledges that the US$214 million (about GHS2.4 billion) flagged by the IMF reflects an accounting loss arising from GoldBod’s pricing strategy, which pays miners close to world market prices to discourage smuggling. However, he argues that this cost has produced far-reaching economic benefits.
Among these benefits, he highlights a sharp improvement in Ghana’s foreign reserves, which grew from US$8.98 billion in 2024 to over US$11.1 billion by October 2025, with projections of US$13 billion by the end of the year. The IMF itself has acknowledged that the DGPP enabled the Bank of Ghana to meet its reserve accumulation targets ahead of schedule
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He further links the programme to the strong performance of the Ghana cedi in 2025. The currency appreciated by more than 30 percent year-on-year, moving from about GHS14.7 to the dollar in 2024 to around GHS11.2 by the end of 2025. This appreciation, he notes, translated into major savings for the government and the wider economy.
According to his estimates, Ghana saved over GHS6.2 billion on external debt servicing and about GHS6.45 billion on payments to independent power producers due to the stronger cedi. Additionally, savings on the national import bill exceeded GHS60 billion, improving the real purchasing power of households and businesses
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The currency stability has also contributed to a sharp decline in inflation, which fell from 24 percent in 2024 to about 6.3 percent by November 2025, the lowest level in four years. Mr Hosi describes this outcome as a clear fulfilment of the Bank of Ghana’s primary mandate of price stability under Act 612
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In conclusion, Mr Hosi maintains that the US$214 million should be viewed as a policy investment whose benefits far outweigh its cost. He cautions, however, that authorities must work to reduce future costs by narrowing the gap between official and open market exchange rates and by pursuing deeper structural reforms to reduce Ghana’s dependence on commodities.
“Economic policy is not accounting,” he writes, warning that focusing only on headline losses risks ignoring the real value created for the economy