Ghana has crossed a troubling and embarrassing threshold: losing money from selling gold.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ghana GoldBod recorded losses of about US$214 million within just eight months of 2025, incurred across the gold value chain. This revelation is not only shocking — it is indefensible.
Gold is not an experimental commodity. It is the oldest store of value known to civilisation, a safe haven in times of uncertainty, and a strategic asset for central banks. For centuries, nations have relied on gold to protect wealth, stabilise currencies, and shore up reserves. Even during periods of weak prices, sovereign gold sales have rarely produced losses. That Ghana has managed to do so at a time of strong global prices defies economic logic.
This is not a market problem.
It is a governance problem.
The IMF’s finding carries weight. Fund reports are grounded in verified data and institutional disclosures, particularly under an IMF-supported programme like Ghana’s. When the IMF flags losses of this magnitude in a sector meant to support reserves and macroeconomic stability, it is a red alert that cannot be ignored.
The implications are grave. At a time when Ghanaians are being asked to accept higher taxes, spending cuts, and painful reforms, a state institution has reportedly bled US$214 million from selling the nation’s most reliable asset. That sum could have strengthened reserves, reduced borrowing, stabilised the cedi, or funded critical social infrastructure.
Responsibility must be clearly established.
The Chief Executive of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiamah, head institutions central to gold trading, reserve management, and foreign exchange operations. Losses on this scale do not occur without failures in oversight, strategy, or execution at the highest levels.
Ghana’s laws are unambiguous: where public officials, through action or negligence, cause financial loss to the state, investigations and sanctions must follow. Accountability is not optional; it is a constitutional duty.
This episode demands an independent, forensic investigation into:
Gold pricing and sales arrangements
Hedging and forward-sale decisions
The role of intermediaries and off-takers
Governance and risk controls within GoldBod and allied institutions
Anything short of this would amount to official indifference.
Gold built Ghana’s economy long before oil and cocoa. It must not now become a symbol of waste, opacity, and institutional failure. If a nation can lose money selling gold, then no public resource is safe.
Ghanaians deserve answers.
They deserve accountability.
And Ghana’s gold must never again bleed in silence.
— Kwabena Adu Koranteng
Business & Financial Analyst | Journalist
Editorial: When Gold Bleeds Ghana’s US$214 Million Shame
