Sammy Gyamfi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Gold Board, has clarified that the foundational agency agreement governing the Domestic Gold Purchase Program (DGPP) was established in September 2023 under the previous administration, debunking misconceptions surrounding the board’s operational financing.
Addressing public commentary and reports from international institutions such as the IMF, Gyamfi emphasized that claims regarding the Bank of Ghana (BoG) pre-financing the Gold Board lack factual basis when evaluated against the historical structure of state gold procurement.
Sammy Gyamfi,
“Now, in September 2023, an agreement was signed between the PMMC and the Bank of Ghana, a copy of which I have in my hand now. September 2023 is marked confidential. I don’t know why they did so back then, but as for Gold Board, any agreement we sign is public and we publish.”
Expanding on the operational timeline, Gyamfi explained that since the Gold Board’s official inception in April 2025, its financial architecture has simply built upon mechanisms instituted years prior.
The DGPP was introduced by the previous government in 2021 to secure gold through three distinct channels: gold for oil, gold for reserves utilizing large-scale mining gold, and gold for reserves leveraging artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold frequently referred to as “gold for cash.”
Because the central bank was not fundamentally set up to trade gold directly, it engaged designated buying agents to handle field procurement on its behalf.
Genesis of DGPP and the Evolution of Buying Agents
To fully grasp the current operational and financial dynamics, Gyamfi detailed how the procurement framework evolved from its 2021 inception.
Although policy initially announced that the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) would serve as the sole buying agent for the central bank, the Bank of Ghana subsequently brought in additional private entities, including Resolute and Asanska, to execute purchases across the small-scale sector.
During the initial phase of the program, buying agents operated without formal contracts or standard service fee structures.
Instead, commercial agents offset operational costs by adjusting exchange rates during procurement. That arrangement changed in September 2023 when a structured agency contract was negotiated and executed between the Bank of Ghana and PMMC under a T+3 spot turnaround cycle, introducing an agreed 0.5% service fee overseen by policy leads and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines.
Statutory Basis of Assay Fees and Institutional Frameworks
Addressing ongoing critiques regarding transactional charges, Gyamfi contextualized the statutory origin of the assay fees collected by state institutions.
Following a 2016 policy declaration under the Mahama administration, PMMC was designated as the national assayer, mandating that all gold earmarked for legal export undergo scientific testing to determine metal content and purity.
Gyamfi noted that testing operations carry significant operational costs, including specialized laboratory equipment, chemical consumables, electricity, and technical labor.
Consequently, the associated 0.258% assay fee on small-scale gold was submitted to and approved by Parliament under the Fees and Charges Act.
This charge applied uniformly across all market participants including central bank purchases and foreign private exporters while large-scale miners paid fixed rates of $90 per sample tested and $840 per site verification visit.
Debunking Pre-Financing Myths and Implementing Rate Reductions
The rationale behind Gyamfi’s detailed clarification stems directly from widespread public and institutional misunderstandings regarding state pre-financing and fee inflation.
Far from creating discretionary charges or drawing unmonitored central bank financing, the Gold Board inherited established legal structures that were fully backed by statutory frameworks and parliamentary approvals.
Upon assuming oversight of gold purchasing operations in October 2025, the Gold Board proactively engaged the Bank of Ghana to review and downwardly adjust the existing cost structures.
An official communication dated October 29, 2025, signed by Gershon Adzraku, Acting Head of Financial Markets at the central bank, formally confirmed a reduction of the service fee from 0.5% to 0.4%, demonstrating the Gold Board’s commitment to cost efficiency while operating transparently within statutory bounds.
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