The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has clarified that the newly established state monopoly focused its transitional phase after its legal creation on building robust institutional systems, workforce capacity, and operational logistics before fully assuming its statutory mandate as the country’s sole gold buyer and exporter.
Addressing recent public misconceptions regarding transaction fees and alleged central bank trading losses, Gyamfi disclosed that fee structures paid to buying agents under the former Domestic Gold Purchase Program (DGPP) were systematically slashed from 0.75% to 0.6%, and further down to 0.35% by January 15, 2026, as confirmed by official central bank correspondence.
With the complete termination of the Bank of Ghana’s DGPP in March 2026, GoldBod transitioned fully into its statutory mandate without receiving any service fees from the central bank, debunking claims that GoldBod’s operations contributed to central bank financial losses.
Sammy Gyamfi
“Government said, ‘Because under the Gold Board Act, Parliament provided for transitional provisions under Section 78.’ And it reads, ‘The rights, assets, and liabilities that have accrued in respect of the properties vested in the Precious Minerals Marketing Company in existence immediately before the coming into force of this Act are transferred to the Gold Board established under this Act.’ So all the obligations and the rights Gold Board had under the September 2023 gold purchase agreement and Bank of Ghana, where the PMMC was a buying agent, Gold Board took over.”
Sammy Gyamfi recounted that following his appointment as acting Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) on January 22, 2025, his primary directive was to establish GoldBod. Parliament passed the Ghana Gold Board Act on March 29, 2025, and presidential assent followed on April 2, 2025.
Recognizing the impossibility of operationalizing a nationwide state monopoly overnight, management prioritized constructing an administrative foundation to oversee national assaying, anti-smuggling task forces, environmental land reclamation, and traceability frameworks.
During this interim phase, Section 78(1) of the Act governed transitional operations, seamlessly transferring the assets, liabilities, and existing contractual obligations of PMMC including its role as a buying agent under the September 2023 Bank of Ghana purchase agreement to GoldBod while full institutional systems were constructed.
Streamlining Fee Structures and Disproving Central Bank Loss Narratives
The step-by-step reduction of buying agent fees directly addresses misinterpretations surrounding state mineral procurement costs. By reducing service charges down to 0.35% before ending the domestic gold purchase program entirely in March 2026, GoldBod demonstrated strict fiscal discipline.
In commercial commodity trading, fees constitute a known, predetermined component of total transaction costs. Because these parliamentary-approved fees were built into the acquisition cost structure, they could not mechanically generate trading losses for the central bank.
Clarifying this distinction dismantles narrative distortions, reassuring investors and international financial institutions that the legal framework governing Ghana’s primary mineral export is built on transparent accounting principles rather than unbudgeted state subsidies.
Institutional Modernization and Comprehensive Market Control
Constructing a unified state enterprise from the ground up completely alters Ghana’s downstream gold governance.
Transitioning from the legacy PMMC framework to a fully resourced GoldBod equips the state with specialized task forces deployed across border checkpoints, entry points, and high-intensity mining hubs to curtail illegal gold leakages.
Furthermore, housing mandatory assaying, valuation, certification, and export authorization under a single operational roof eliminates institutional friction and administrative duplication.
This centralized architecture ensures that all artisanal and small-scale gold production undergoes mandatory physical verification, providing the state with real-time oversight over total national precious mineral exports.
Strategic Impacts on Ghana’s National Gold Trade and Economy
The full deployment of GoldBod’s statutory systems fundamentally strengthens Ghana’s sovereign position in global commodity markets.
Ending piecemeal buying programs in favor of a centralized export authority eliminates multi-agency regulatory chaos and protects national gold trade revenues from transfer pricing and under-declaration.
Internationally, establishing a transparent, traceable supply chain elevates the commercial reputation of Ghanaian gold, making it fully compliant with international ethical sourcing criteria.
Domestically, direct state oversight guarantees that foreign exchange earned from small-scale gold exports is channeled back into the domestic banking system, stabilizing the local currency, bolstering national foreign exchange reserves, and securing long-term economic stability.
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