Gold for Reserves row deepens as BoG fails to back loss claims before Parliament

Attempts to establish political equivalence in the ongoing controversy surrounding Ghana’s Gold for Reserves Policy appear to be faltering, following the inability of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, to produce documentary evidence to support claims that the policy has consistently incurred losses since its inception.

Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the BoG Governor stated that the Gold for Reserves Policy—introduced as a key intervention to stabilise the cedi—has been fraught with losses from the outset.

On that basis, he suggested that the recent losses highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are not unprecedented.

However, the Chairperson of the Committee, Abena Osei Asare, challenged the Governor to clearly indicate where such losses were captured in the Bank’s audited financial statements.

She noted that while a reported loss of about GH¢1.8 billion was reflected in the Bank of Ghana’s published accounts, similar losses allegedly incurred in 2024 could not be traced in the financial statements available on the Bank’s official website.

“Governor, I want you to show us clearly in the accounts where these losses were recorded.

The GH¢1.8 billion loss appears in your audited accounts, but the earlier losses you refer to cannot be found in the reports,” the Chairperson stated.

In response, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama requested additional time to review the records and provide the Committee with the relevant documentation.

The Gold for Reserves Policy has been at the centre of heightened public debate following a recent IMF report which indicated that the policy recorded losses exceeding US$214 million within the first eight months of implementation.

This revelation prompted members of the Minority on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, led by the Ranking Member, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, to call for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to conduct a public investigation into the matter.

Initial responses from both GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana dismissed the IMF’s claims as speculative and misleading.

Subsequently, however, the Bank of Ghana acknowledged that certain costs had been incurred under the policy, while GoldBod also admitted that losses were not unprecedented, arguing that higher losses had allegedly been recorded during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

The controversy further triggered an investigation by the production team of Asempa FM’s Eko Sii Sen, which filed a Right to Information (RTI) request seeking details on profits and losses recorded under the Gold for Reserves framework since its inception.

Responses from the Bank of Ghana confirmed that losses were indeed recorded during that period.

Despite this, at today’s sitting of the Public Accounts Committee, the Governor was unable to provide detailed documentation to substantiate his claim that similar losses had occurred in the past, even when specifically prompted by the Committee Chair.

This development has reinforced concerns among critics that efforts are being made to politically equalise responsibility in the dispute, rather than provide transparent, verifiable and comprehensive accounting of the Gold for Reserves Policy’s financial performance.