GOLDBOD reforms strengthen reserves, boost cedi – CEO Sammy Gyamfi
The Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD) has helped transform the country’s struggling economy by tightening regulation of the gold trade, boosting foreign exchange reserves, and stabilising the cedi, its Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi has said.
Speaking in a radio interview on Joy FM on Friday, Mr Gyamfi described the Ghana Gold Board as “a product of foresight and vision,” credited to President John Mahama, who, while in opposition, questioned why a gold-rich country like Ghana was still struggling with foreign reserves
“For years, foreigners dominated Ghana’s gold export space, repatriating little forex back into the country. The result was a cedi that depreciated sharply, fuelling inflation and worsening living conditions,” Mr Gyamfi said.
According to him, the new Gold Board Act has changed that. The law centralises all gold purchases under state supervision, bars foreigners from participating in small-scale trading, and introduces strict licensing and compliance rules for local buyers.
“Today, you cannot buy or export gold from Ghana as an individual. Everything goes through the Gold Board. That way, we protect our sovereignty and ensure forex from exports comes back into our system,” he explained.
Mr Gyamfi said these reforms have already had significant impact. Between January and September 2025, Ghana earned $17.9bn from exports, with gold alone contributing $11.2bn. Of that amount, the small-scale sector accounted for nearly $6bn – more than cocoa and oil combined.
He added that the strengthened inflows have helped the cedi appreciate by 21% between January and August, compared with a 23.5% depreciation during the same period last year. Inflation, he noted, has fallen from 23.8% in December 2024 to 11.5% by August 2025, while public debt-to-GDP has dropped from 61% to 44.9%.
“These are early days yet, but the results show that with the right systems, Ghana can harness its gold wealth to drive economic transformation,” he said.
The Gold Board, established in April 2025, also enforces anti-money laundering checks, conducts compliance audits, and has introduced a tiered licensing system for small buyers, large buyers, and aggregators. It has also scrapped a 1.5% withholding tax on processed small-scale gold, a move Mr Gyamfi said has reduced smuggling.
