NPP Questions GoldBod’s Legal Authority to Operate as Forex Bureau
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has raised concerns that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has overstepped its legal mandate by effectively operating as a forex bureau.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, September 1, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, a member of the NPP’s Policy Coordinating Committee on Finance and Economy and former Finance Minister, claimed that GoldBod appears to have expanded its operations beyond its core mandate of purchasing and trading gold.
He alleged that the Board is now actively engaged in foreign exchange sales and auctions without proper legal authority or regulatory approval. “The Ghana Gold Board Act gives it no such mandate, and GoldBod holds no licence from the Bank of Ghana to engage in forex trading,” Dr Amin Adam stated.
Scrutiny
The concerns come against the backdrop of broader scrutiny of the Board’s financial performance and governance structure.
Recent disclosures have highlighted significant challenges, including US$1.7 billion in gold trading losses reported by the IMF under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), with foreign exchange spreads identified as a major contributing factor.
The gap between the forex bureau rate used to purchase gold and the cedi reference rate used by the Bank of Ghana for accounting has been flagged as a key driver of these losses.
Clarity
Dr Amin Adam called on the Bank of Ghana to provide clarity on the legal and regulatory basis for GoldBod’s reported foreign exchange market participation.
The NPP has also demanded a formal reconciliation of the figures reported by the IMF, the Bank of Ghana, and GoldBod, citing an economic cost of approximately GH¢22 billion reported by the IMF, compared to the GH¢9.05 billion loss recorded by the central bank. “The correction is welcome. The accounting is still owed, and we will keep asking for it until the people of Ghana are given it,” Dr Amin Adam said, while supporting calls for a full parliamentary inquiry into the programme.
