GoldBod is the best we’ve done with our gold resources yet – Kofi Bentil

Lawyer and Senior Vice-President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, believes the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) is the best approach Ghana has adopted to manage its gold resources. However, he clarified that GoldBod is still evolving and should not be portrayed as flawless. Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Bentil emphasized that GoldBod represented an improvement over an earlier system where the Bank of Ghana (BoG) directly participated in gold trading and faced the financial repercussions of those transactions.

Under the previous arrangement, the BoG traded gold through GoldBod, with the resulting gains or losses reflected on the central bank’s balance sheet. Bentil argued that the central bank was also exposed to commercial risks, as the losses belonged on their books. He pointed out that concerns over the previous structure led to calls for a new model where the commercial risks would be separated from the central bank.

Currently, Ghana is transitioning towards a system in which GoldBod will have its own capital, enabling it to independently buy, trade, and assume the commercial risks and rewards associated with its gold purchasing and trading activities. While Bentil defended GoldBod, he acknowledged that the institution still requires improvements.

He urged public discussion to focus on identifying and rectifying weaknesses rather than dismissing the GoldBod concept as fundamentally flawed. Bentil rejected the notion that the establishment of GoldBod was a policy mistake, asserting that Ghana's experience with gold trading and the challenges faced under the previous arrangement underline the need for an institution capable of managing the commercial side of the country's gold resources.