Gold purchase costs are policy-driven, not 'losses' - BoG insists

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has rejected characterisations of the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) as loss-making, insisting that what has been described in public discourse as a “loss” should instead be understood as a programme cost.

The central bank maintains that such costs were structurally foreseeable, given the mechanics of how gold purchases are executed and recorded.

Head of Gold Management at the Bank of Ghana, Paul Bleboo, made this distinction during TV3’s The Keypoints programme on Saturday, May 2, 2026.

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“The DGPP ‘loss’ should be interpreted as a cost of the programme, not a loss,” he said.

He explained that the DGPP, launched in July 2021, is a key instrument for rebuilding Ghana’s foreign reserves and addressing macroeconomic instability.

The programme operates by purchasing gold from small-scale and artisanal miners in the domestic market, with payments made in cedis at the prevailing forex bureau exchange rate.

“However, its accounting treatment creates an inherent and quantifiable gap; while the gold is purchased at the forex bureau rate, it is recorded on the Bank of Ghana’s books at the official exchange rate. Because the two rates are not identical, the spread between them appears in the accounts as a cost differential,” he clarified.

Paul Bleboo continued, “The distinction is critical for public understanding. A commercial loss implies that an investment has generated a negative return relative to its cost. A policy cost, by contrast, is a deliberate expenditure incurred to achieve a non-commercial objective or public good.”

Based on these terms, Bleboo said the programme’s “cost” represents the price paid for achieving specific policy objectives.

"Properly contextualised, the DGPP cost is a deliberate policy expenditure rather than a commercial loss," he maintained.