Former Deputy Finance Minister Hon. Abena Osei-Asare has raised serious concerns over the reported losses associated with Ghana’s domestic gold purchase programme, calling for greater transparency from the Bank of Ghana and the institutions involved.
According to her, the IMF’s latest Article IV consultation report puts the losses from the domestic gold purchase programme at US$1.7 billion, equivalent to approximately GH¢22 billion.
She contrasted this figure with the US$214 million loss reportedly recorded by the Bank of Ghana in its 2025 financial statements, questioning how the significant difference was treated in the central bank’s accounts.
“The accounting firm that audited the Bank of Ghana, I want to hear from them. How did they treat the difference of close to US$1.4 billion?”
She said the reported GH¢22 billion loss is particularly concerning because the same amount was previously used to support Ghana’s banking-sector cleanup, protecting the funds of about 1.2 million depositors.
Hon. Osei-Asare also questioned why such a large amount could be lost while the Ministry of Health has indicated that it needs about GH¢6 billion to recruit nurses.
She argued that using a fraction of the reported loss to employ nurses could have helped reduce unemployment while allowing the newly employed workers to contribute to government revenue through income taxes.
The former Deputy Finance Minister further questioned the reported costs associated with the gold programme, including fees and discounts allegedly given to gold off-takers.
She urged GoldBod to provide a detailed explanation to the Ghanaian public.
“GH¢22 billion cannot simply go down the drain”
Osei-Asare also raised concerns about the Bank of Ghana’s negative equity position, saying it had increased from about GH¢58 billion to GH¢93 billion, while government allocated only GH¢5 billion to the central bank in the mid-year budget.
She contrasted this with the allocation of GH¢4.5 billion to another institution just two working days before the end of the financial year, questioning the government’s spending priorities.
“If you can make a loss of GH¢22 billion when GH¢6 billion of that loss can be used to employ more than 10,000 nurses, clearly you have a case to tell the people of Ghana,” she said.
What do you make of Abena Osei-Asare’s concerns about the GoldBod losses?
