The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has disclosed that the institution has received authorisation and guidance from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to sell foreign exchange generated through its statutory operations.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, October 13, Mr Gyamfi stressed that GoldBod does not trade in currencies but sells foreign exchange earned from its gold-related activities to the central bank.
“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.
His clarification comes amid scrutiny of the Board’s operations and its role in generating foreign exchange to support Ghana’s economy and strengthen the country’s external reserves.
Mr Gyamfi also told the committee that GoldBod was on course to meet or exceed its 2025 gold purchase and export performance while substantially increasing its foreign exchange earnings.
He said the institution remained committed to its statutory mandate of generating foreign exchange, supporting national reserve accumulation and regulating the country’s gold trading sector.
“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.
The GoldBod CEO further disclosed that between 80 and 90 per cent of the gold purchased and exported by the Board was now being refined locally before export, creating jobs and retaining refining fees within the domestic economy.
“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.
He added that silver recovered 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.