The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has announced a record-breaking performance for September 2026, generating US1.4 billion by over 33%.
The announcement, made by the Board’s Finance and Trading Directorate on September 30, marks a significant milestone in Ghana’s efforts to leverage its gold resources for macroeconomic stability. The feat was achieved in accordance with GoldBod’s mandate under Section 2(b) of the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140).
Where the Money Went
Of the total US701.3 million was sold to authorised commercial banks, slightly surpassing the US1.170 billion was provided to the Bank of Ghana (BoG), significantly exceeding the US$700 million target for reserve accumulation.
The allocation reflects GoldBod’s dual mandate: stabilising the local currency through strategic FX injections into the banking system while simultaneously building the nation’s external buffers.
October Outlook and New Framework
For October 2026, GoldBod is projecting to generate US1 billion is expected to be made available to commercial banks to support FX market stability, while up to US$500 million will be provided to the Bank of Ghana for reserve accumulation.
Crucially, the October sales will be conducted under GoldBod’s newly developed Spot FX Sales/Intermediation Framework, designed to strengthen transparency, fairness, and regulatory compliance in the sale of foreign exchange. The framework represents a shift toward codified, formula-based pricing linked to world spot prices and a clearly defined FX benchmark, aimed at collapsing the arbitrage wedge that has historically driven gold into illicit channels.
Background: The GoldBod Revolution
GoldBod was established in early 2025 under Act 1140 to centralise Ghana’s gold trade, particularly from the ASM sector. Its mandate is expansive: to buy, assay, grade, export, license, and enforce traceability across the gold value chain. The Board replaced the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) with an expanded and exclusive mandate, including serving as agent for the Bank of Ghana in its gold-for-reserves programme.
Under the leadership of CEO Sammy Gyamfi, GoldBod has moved aggressively to formalise the ASM sector. In 2025 — the Board’s first year of operation — Ghana’s ASM sector achieved a historic breakthrough, exporting 103 tonnes of gold valued at approximately US9.2 billion.
This turnaround followed years of volatility. ASM exports had collapsed to just 3.4 tonnes in 2021 following the imposition of a 3% withholding tax on unprocessed gold, which drove trading underground. A reduction of the tax to 1.5% in 2022 triggered gradual recovery, but it was the complete removal of the tax alongside GoldBod’s market-mopping strategy that catalysed the 2025 surge.
“This data clearly shows that Ghana’s strong ASM export performance is not just price-driven,” Gyamfi said in January 2026. “It is also the result of deliberate policy choices and institutional reforms that incentivized miners to sell through formal channels”.
The GANRAP Connection
September’s US$1.170 billion transfer to the Bank of Ghana feeds directly into the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme (GANRAP) , a landmark policy presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson in February 2026.
GANRAP is Ghana’s first comprehensive national policy aimed at building sustainable macroeconomic stability through gold-backed reserve accumulation. The policy targets raising Ghana’s international reserves to the equivalent of 15 months of import cover by 2028 — up from 5.7 months recorded at the end of 2025.
Under the programme, the Bank of Ghana and GoldBod signed an agreement mandating the Board to sell foreign exchange accrued under the policy to the central bank at a mutually agreed cost. The Finance Minister described the initiative as “a deliberate gold-backed reserve accumulation strategy anchored on the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140)”.
The policy also sets an operational weekly gold purchase target of approximately 3 tonnes — at least 2.45 tonnes from the ASM sector and a minimum of 0.57 tonnes from large-scale mining — to be refined and added to the country’s physical reserves.
The urgency of these efforts is underscored by recent data. Ghana’s gross international reserves fell from US11.07 billion by the end of August — a 12-month low — despite strong gold export earnings. Gold remained the country’s leading export earner, generating US11.18 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Curbing Smuggling, Building Trust
GoldBod’s success in capturing FX flows is closely linked to its aggressive enforcement of the gold trade. The Board’s Task Force has been credited with dismantling smuggling networks and arresting high-profile illegal traders. In one notable operation, an American citizen, a Moroccan national, and four Ghanaian accomplices were arrested at the SSNIT Emporium in Accra for attempting to buy and assay approximately 2.1 kilograms of gold valued at over GH¢2.2 million without the requisite licence.
Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey, CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, has publicly commended GoldBod for its enforcement record. “If you talk about real enforcement, one of the people that has done enforcement in the area that they are, then it is the GoldBod,” Ashigbey said on TV3’s Key Point programme. “They are the people catching the kingpins — they catch the big guys”.
Looking Ahead
The Bank of Ghana has signalled that GoldBod will play an even more prominent role in forex market intermediation. BoG Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama disclosed in late September that the central bank is developing a new foreign exchange market framework to strengthen reserve accumulation and improve market efficiency. Under GANRAP, non-traditional exports are also expected to contribute to reserve building, though gold remains the primary anchor.
GoldBod reaffirmed its commitment to its statutory mandate in its September 30 statement. “GoldBod remains committed to its statutory mandate to generate foreign exchange for Ghana and will continue to work closely with all stakeholders,” the Board said.
With October’s US$1.5 billion projection and the new Spot FX Framework set to govern sales, the Board appears poised to sustain its momentum — a development that could prove decisive as Ghana seeks to rebuild reserves, stabilise the cedi, and reduce its reliance on costly external borrowing to shore up its external position.
