As debate continues over the financial performance of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchasing Programme, Natural Resource Governance Expert, Dr. Steve Manteaw, is urging the public to look beyond short-term controversies and focus on the bigger economic picture.
For the policy analyst, Ghana’s decision to take control of its gold trade and exports represents a significant policy shift that is already delivering clear benefits to the economy.
For decades, Ghana produced large volumes of gold yet struggled to fully capture the foreign exchange benefits. Much of the trade was dominated by external actors, leakages, and weak oversight, limiting the impact of the country’s most valuable mineral on macroeconomic stability.
There have been instances where official figures of gold imported by countries such as the UAE far exceeded official export figures recorded by Ghana, emphasizing the extent of smuggling and leakages in the country’s gold business.
Now, with the new GoldBod tightening control over gold purchases and exports, Dr. Manteaw believes Ghana is now ensuring that forex earnings from gold actually flow into the domestic economy.
This, in turn, has helped stabilise the cedi, support foreign reserves, and reduce pressure on the broader economy. He notes that the country is now keeping more value at home instead of watching it slip through its fingers.
Dr. Manteaw describes this shift, occasioned by the GoldBod, as policy innovation in action, noting that Ghana’s current economic challenges require fresh thinking rather than business as usual.
He believes the gold strategy is one of the few interventions that directly links natural resources to currency stability and economic confidence.
“It takes policy innovation to overcome our present economic challenges. Taking control of our gold trade and exports has ensured that Ghana realises the forex benefits of the trade, and this has translated into macroeconomic stability,” Dr. Manteaw explained.
He added, “The foundation has been laid for the take off. We pray for more wisdom.”
While critics continue to raise questions about costs and reported losses under the programme, Dr. Manteaw insists the foundation has already been laid. The focus now, he says, should be on strengthening implementation, improving efficiency, and allowing the policy to mature.
He views the programme not as a finished product, but as the groundwork for a stronger economic take-off, one built on better resource control, smarter forex management, and long-term stability.
It is expected that when the country takes charge of its resources and aligns them with national priorities, the citizens will greatly benefit from the country’s natural resources to help improve their conditions and standard of living.
