Some economists from the University of Ghana are revealing that Ghana is quietly saving hundreds of millions of dollars every year, not by taking new loans, but by selling its own gold more effectively through the operations of Goldbod.
According to a technical report titled “Evaluating the Macroeconomic Effects of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod)”, GoldBod-enabled artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) exports generated US$10.8 billion in foreign exchange in 2025.
Crucially, this inflow, they say, came without adding a single dollar to Ghana’s external debt, saving the country interest it would have paid if this amount were borrowed.
The report, prepared by Prof. Festus Ebo Turkson, Peter Junior Dotse, and Prof. Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako of the University of Ghana, explains why this matters in very practical terms.
If Ghana had gone to the international market to raise the same amount of foreign exchange through borrowing, it would have paid between US$756 million and US$1.08 billion every year in interest alone, based on typical borrowing rates of 7% to 10%.
Even when the analysis is narrowed to just the gold that was previously being smuggled out of the country, the savings remain striking. By formalising these flows through GoldBod, Ghana avoided annual interest costs of between US$266 million and US$380 million.
These savings, the researchers stress, are not one-off gains. They recur every year, strengthening Ghana’s finances long after the gold is sold.
The economists believe that GoldBod has allowed Ghana to do what many heavily indebted countries struggle to achieve, which is raise large amounts of foreign exchange without borrowing, without increasing debt, and without future interest burdens.
The result is more fiscal space, lower pressure on the cedi, and reduced strain on government budgets.
They further argue that this is why GoldBod should not be judged like a profit-seeking trading company. Instead, it should be seen as a macroeconomic stabilisation tool, converting natural resources into steady financial relief for the economy.
As Ghana works to restore debt sustainability, the findings suggest that GoldBod’s real value lies not just in gold exports, but in the billions of dollars in borrowing Ghana no longer needs.
