The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has generated an additional US$15 billion in foreign exchange inflows, significantly strengthening the cedi, boosting international reserves and transforming Ghana’s external sector, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson has announced.
Presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review in Parliament on Thursday, Dr. Forson described GoldBod as one of the Mahama administration’s most impactful economic reforms, saying it has evolved beyond a gold marketing institution into a key pillar of Ghana’s macroeconomic stabilisation strategy.
“Stronger compliance and smarter administration will always deliver more sustainable revenue than higher taxes,” the Finance Minister stated.
He explained that GoldBod was established to curb gold smuggling, formalise the gold trade and ensure that a larger share of Ghana’s mineral wealth directly benefits the Ghanaian people.
According to Dr. Forson, the policy has already delivered remarkable results, generating an additional US$15 billion in foreign exchange inflows, strengthening Ghana’s reserve accumulation and supporting exchange rate stability.
The Minister revealed that the intervention also improved Ghana’s current account surplus by 6.4 percentage points, rising from 1.9 per cent in 2024 to 8.3 per cent in 2025—a fourfold increase in just one year.
“This was not simply a good policy. This was a macroeconomic stabilisation policy designed to strengthen the cedi, build external buffers and restore confidence in the Ghanaian economy,” he told Parliament.
As part of government’s broader external sector reforms, Dr. Forson said the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy (GHANRAP) is being implemented to increase Ghana’s international reserves to the equivalent of 15 months of import cover by the end of 2028.
He further announced that government has reached an agreement with large-scale mining companies to purchase 30 per cent of their annual gold production for refining by local refineries. The initiative is expected to promote domestic value addition, strengthen the local refining industry and further enhance Ghana’s reserve accumulation.
The Finance Minister also disclosed that the Bank of Ghana Act has been amended to make inflation targeting a shared responsibility between the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, ensuring closer coordination between fiscal and monetary policy.
Dr. Forson said the combined impact of GoldBod, GHANRAP and the strengthened fiscal-monetary policy framework demonstrates government’s commitment to building a resilient economy, safeguarding macroeconomic stability and delivering sustainable long-term growth.
By: Christian Kpesese
