The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has rejected claims that the organisation was responsible for more than US$1.7bn in losses recorded by the Bank of Ghana under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.
Speaking at the government’s Accountability Series on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, Mr Gyamfi said the International Monetary Fund report cited by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin did not accuse GoldBod of causing the losses.
He said the claim was unsupported and urged public figures to avoid attributing statements to the IMF that did not appear in its report.
“The new narrative by the Minority Leader that GoldBod is to blame for losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme is bereft of facts,” Mr Gyamfi said.
“It is important for us not to attribute the IMF to what they have not said. They have not said that the GoldBod is the one that caused the Bank of Ghana to lose 1.7 billion dollars.”
Mr Gyamfi also challenged the argument on the basis of timing. He noted that the Bank of Ghana had recorded losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme before GoldBod was established.
He referred to the IMF report as showing that the central bank incurred a loss of $400m from gold sales under the programme in 2024, a year in which GoldBod did not exist.
“If the GoldBod is to blame for losses incurred by the Bank of Ghana in 2025 because it was paid a legitimate fee for its services, who then caused the losses of the Bank of Ghana in 2022, 2023 and 2024 under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme?” he asked.
“The under-referenced IMF report says that the BoG incurred a loss of $400 million from gold sales under the domestic gold purchase programme in the year 2024. There was no GoldBod in 2024.”
The GoldBod chief further questioned why one legally independent organisation should be held responsible for accounting losses attributed to another.
“Where in the world is one body corporate blamed for accounting losses incurred by another independent, separate and distinct body corporate without any evidentiary basis?” he asked.
Mr Gyamfi was responding to comments made by Mr Afenyo-Markin at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday. The Minority Leader alleged that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, operated through GoldBod, had recorded losses of more than US$1.7bn in 2025.
He put the figure at about GH¢22bn and cited IMF Country Report No. 26/213. According to Mr Afenyo-Markin, the losses represented roughly 1.5% of Ghana’s gross domestic product and could not be explained by movements in the gold market alone.
“These losses are not bad luck. You don’t trade in gold and make losses,” he said, while calling for the programme’s pricing and trading practices to be reviewed.
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod’s own audited accounts did not support that conclusion. The accounts, prepared and published by the Auditor-General, recorded an operational surplus of GH¢907m and an overall surplus of GH¢5.4bn for the year.
He added that the accounts contained no adverse findings and challenged Mr Afenyo-Markin to identify any part of the report that supported his allegation that GoldBod was responsible for the Bank of Ghana’s losses.
