GoldBod doesn't trade currency; we're a major foreign exchange earner for Ghana - Sammy Gyamfi

The CEO of the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD), Sammy Gyamfi, has said that GOLDBOD has received authorisation and guidance from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) that allow GOLDBOD to sell foreign exchange.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, October 13, Sammy Gyamfi said that GoldBod does not trade currency.

"We are a major foreign exchange earner for the country. We only sell foreign exchange that we generate from our statutory functions to the Bank of Ghana," he said.

Sammy Gyamfi further said the institution is on course to meet or exceed its 2025 gold purchase and export performance, while substantially increasing foreign exchange earnings.

He said GoldBod remained on track to fulfil its statutory mandate of generating foreign exchange, supporting the accumulation of national reserves and regulating Ghana’s gold trading sector.

He told the PAC that the Board was also improving value addition by ensuring that more gold produced in Ghana was refined locally before export.

“This year we are on track to at least meet and possibly exceed our 2025 gold purchase and export targets, as well as substantially exceeding our foreign exchange generation targets for the year 2025, which was 10.8 billion United States dollars,” he said.

Mr Gyamfi said about 80 to 90 per cent of the gold purchased and exported by GoldBod was currently refined locally, a departure from previous practices in which much of the gold was exported without local refining.

“I’m happy to report to this honourable committee that, as we speak, about 80 to 90 per cent of the gold we purchase and export is refined here locally,” he said.

He said local refining was creating employment opportunities for Ghanaians, particularly young people, while keeping refining fees within the domestic economy.

According to him, the silver produced as a by-product of gold refining was also being retained in Ghana, generating foreign exchange and supplying raw materials to the local fabrication industry.

“That means jobs for the unemployed youth because these refineries are operating 24/7, employing Ghanaians, and the refining fees which would have ended up in export destinations are being retained in our economy,” he said.

Mr Gyamfi added that the retention of silver and other by-products was helping to support domestic industrial activity.