By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ghana is considering establishing a board to streamline gold purchases from small-scale miners, aiming to increase earnings and reduce smuggling, the newly appointed finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, said on Monday.
The Gold Board will enable Africa’s leading gold producer to maximise its benefits from precious metal sales and help maintain the stability of the national currency.
Data from Ghana’s central bank revealed that total gold exports for 2024 amounted to $11.64 billion, a 53.2% year-on-year increase that nearly doubled Ghana’s trade surplus to $4.98 billion in 2024.
The minister stated that nearly $5 billion worth of gold exported last year came from legal small-scale miners.
“The time has come for Ghana to expand beyond royalties and taxes by harnessing the entire value chain of gold … from extraction to refinery, value addition, and marketing, both locally and internationally,” Forson said.
The board is set to be launched in early March, he added.
The gold programme will be implemented with the goal of pursuing the stringent London Bullion Market Association certification, which prohibits refiners from handling gold sourced from activities contributing to human rights abuses, conflict, crime, or environmental degradation.
“Currently, the chaos in Ghana’s gold purchasing sector prevents the nation from fully benefiting from its gold resources,” Forson said.
The board will serve as the sole buyer of gold through licensed aggregators and local traders, replacing the current system that allows Ghanaians and foreign companies with export licences to purchase gold without following approved regulations.
“This fragmented, uncoordinated, and unregulated system has led to widespread gold smuggling and deprived the state of much-needed foreign exchange,” Forson added.
