GoldBod has plugged gold smuggling leak and crowded in FX – Bokpin
Economist Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin says the GoldBod initiative has significantly reduced gold smuggling and helped Ghana retain more foreign exchange from the artisanal and small-scale mining sector.
Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin, an economist, has praised the GoldBod initiative for significantly reducing gold smuggling and increasing foreign exchange (FX) for Ghana. According to Bokpin, the gap between Ghana's gold export figures and those of importing countries has narrowed since the introduction of GoldBod. The economist notes that the development is a major credit to GoldBod, which operated like COCOBOD, purchasing and exporting gold from artisanal and small-scale miners.
While acknowledging the benefits of GoldBod, Bokpin cautioned that the gains have come at a high cost to the country. The domestic gold purchase arrangement, introduced in 2025, has led to significant losses for Ghana, partly due to design defects in the program. These losses could have been used to fund essential infrastructure and services, such as roads, schools, and hospitals.
Bokpin also warned against attributing macroeconomic stability solely to the efforts of GoldBod. He emphasized that macroeconomic stability is driven by fiscal and monetary policies, overseen by the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance.
Despite the costs, Bokpin recognizes the substantial benefits of the GoldBod intervention, particularly in terms of foreign exchange retention and macroeconomic stability. However, he insists that the costs must not be ignored, and the government, GoldBod, and the Bank of Ghana have acknowledged that the losses are unsustainable. The Bank of Ghana's exit plan aims to reduce the associated losses from about 17% to about 5%.
Written by urgent.news from MyJoyOnline Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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