A new technical report by leading economists from the University of Ghana has found that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) delivered a substantial boost to the country’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves in 2025 by formalising artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold that had previously been lost to smuggling.
According to the report, authored by Professor Festus Ebo Turkson, Peter Junior Dotse, and Professor Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako, recorded ASM gold exports rose from 63.6 metric tonnes in 2024 to 103.0 metric tonnes in 2025, representing an incremental 39.4 tonnes routed through formal channels.
The formalisation of this volume of gold translates into an estimated FX value of US$3.8 billion, nearly 18 times the US$214 million trading loss reported by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The report notes that the increase in recorded ASM exports aligns closely with pre-GoldBod smuggling estimates, suggesting that a significant portion of the rise reflects reduced leakage rather than a sudden surge in production.
“Even under conservative valuation assumptions, the formalisation dividend dominates the policy cost by an order of magnitude,” the authors emphasise, noting that formalising just 2.2 tonnes of gold would have been sufficient to offset the reported BoG loss.
Beyond accounting gains, GoldBod’s operations have converted previously illicit gold flows into formal FX, strengthening Ghana’s external buffers without increasing the country’s debt exposure.
The report highlights that these non-debt foreign exchange inflows, coupled with reduced smuggling, generate annual interest savings estimated between US$756 million and US$1.08 billion, demonstrating the durability of the financing benefits.
“The much-discussed losses recorded by the BoG are largely accounting translation effects. Once these valuation effects are separated from the true economic cost, the programme’s net contribution remains strongly positive,” the report states.
In addition to strengthening reserves, the gains from GoldBod-supported formalisation have wider macroeconomic benefits, including improved import cover, reduced rollover risk, and enhanced exchange-rate stability.
The report underscores that sustaining these formalisation gains and maintaining transparency will be key to maximising policy effectiveness.
“GoldBod represents a welfare-enhancing institutional innovation that internalises gold flows previously lost to illicit channels, strengthens Ghana’s external buffers, and reduces reliance on expensive debt financing,” the authors conclude.
The Ghana Gold Board is a statutory institution established to formalise gold production, enhance foreign exchange inflows, and support the country’s macroeconomic stability.
Through its role in purchasing, assaying, and exporting artisanal and large-scale gold, GoldBod strengthens Ghana’s external reserves, reduces reliance on costly borrowing, and contributes to the formalisation of the mining sector.
