As the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) takes over the nation’s highly successful but controversial Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), a finance expert has offered a blueprint to help protect public funds and minimize the transactional losses associated with the program.
In his critical economic and financial analysis of the $1.7 billion loss incurred by the Bank of Ghana, banking and corporate governance consultant Dr. Richmond Akwasi Atuahene argues that while the program has successfully built a historic US$11.9 billion sovereign buffer, the accounting “losses” must be tackled head-on.
For him, this is more critical as GoldBod transitions into an independent, commercially optimized trading structure.
To achieve this, Dr. Atuahene has laid out eight strategic recommendations to help GoldBod run a highly profitable, airtight, and efficient gold operation.
Here is a simple breakdown of his proposed solutions:
1. Hedging & Pricing Reforms: Stop Gambling on Market Prices
Currently, buying gold on the spot market exposes the state to wild price swings. Dr. Atuahene recommends that GoldBod adopt hedging strategies, which involve using financial tools like options contracts and offsetting market positions to lock in gold values. This protects the state’s capital if global prices suddenly drop.
Additionally, GoldBod should align its local purchase prices with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) AM/PM price windows to make costs predictable, rather than buying on volatile, second-by-second live ticks
2. Local Value Addition: Refine Ghana’s Gold at Home
Instead of exporting raw, unrefined gold and paying expensive fees to foreign processing plants, GoldBod must aggressively pivot to local refining. Dr. Atuahene advises partnering with domestic facilities like the Gold Coast Refinery and Royal Ghana Gold Limited to refine up to one metric tonne of gold every week.
This processes raw gold into 99.9% pure bullion domestically, keeping refining fees, revenues, and jobs inside Ghana.
3. Digital Traceability: Use Blockchain to Fight Smuggling
To secure the supply chain, Dr. Atuahene urges the immediate deployment of a blockchain-based track-and-trace system. GoldBod is already planning a national procurement tender for this technology, slated for late 2026.
A digital ledger will authenticate the exact origin of small-scale mining gold, ensuring every ounce is tracked from the dirt to the export destination, effectively shutting down illegal leakages and smuggling.
4. Decentralization: Open Local Gold Buying Centers
According to Dr. Atuahene, small-scale miners often struggle to transport their gold to Accra, leading to black-market sales. Dr. Atuahene recommends establishing regional and district buying centers.
Bringing GoldBod directly to the mining communities creates transparent, officially regulated local hubs, slashes transportation costs, and makes it easier for miners to sell legally.
5. Operational Efficiency: Cut Out the Greedy Middlemen
The gold trade is heavily weighed down by layers of sub-agents and aggregators who collect high transaction fees. Dr. Atuahene argues that GoldBod must streamline its buying channels by dealing directly with small-scale and artisanal mining groups.
Cutting out these expensive middlemen lowers overall transaction costs and ensures that public funds are protected.
6. Standardized Assaying: Deploy High-Tech Scanners
To prevent “grade dilution”, where gold is mixed with cheaper metals, GoldBod must enforce strict technological testing. Dr. Atuahene proposes mandatory X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning and advanced assaying technology at every single collection point.
This ensures transparent, instant, and highly accurate verification of gold purity and weight, so the state always gets exactly what it pays for.
7. Fund Operations with Private Banks, Not State Cash
To take the pressure off the Central Bank’s balance sheet, GoldBod should change how the program is funded. Instead of relying on the Bank of Ghana’s reserves, GoldBod should secure direct financing from commercial banks to run its daily gold-buying activities. This shifts the financial burden to the commercial banking sector and protects state reserves.
8. Pre-emption Rights: Exercise State Rights on Large Mines
Finally, Dr. Atuahene recommends that the state assert its legal authority over its mineral wealth by invoking state pre-emption rights on large-scale gold output. This allows GoldBod to secure a portion of the gold produced by large, established mining firms before it is exported, rapidly boosting national reserves through structured, low-risk acquisitions.
The Bottomline
Dr. Richmond Atuahene maintains that the benefits associated with the program are very crucial to the economy, hence should not be tainted with politics. For him, the country owes its current economic stability largely to the gold purchase program as the benefits far outweigh the cost. He believes that with the above strategies, the country can optimize its gold business by minimizing cost and maximizing benefits.
