The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, says President John Dramani Mahama has urged the Board to remain focused on its gold trading model despite concerns and recommendations from international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said Ghana had followed policy prescriptions from international institutions for decades without achieving the results the country is recording today, arguing that the government must prioritise policies it believes serve the national interest.
Speaking at the Mining in Motion Conference on Tuesday, October 20, Mr Gyamfi said the government remained confident in GoldBod’s approach and would not abandon it simply because its policies differed from the views of external institutions.
“People are entitled to their opinions, but President Mahama has told us to remain focused, because we’ve listened to the prescriptions of these institutions for decades, and we have not seen the kind of results we are seeing today,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi acknowledged that Ghana’s participation in an IMF programme gives the Fund a basis to comment on the country’s economic policies. However, he maintained that such engagement should not prevent the government from pursuing measures it believes will deliver better economic outcomes.
He said Ghana remained open to collaboration and the exchange of ideas with international institutions but would prioritise its national interests whenever disagreements arose over economic policy.
“Where we have to collaborate, we’ll collaborate, where we have to share ideas, we’ll share ideas, but where opinions conflict, we will uphold what is in our national interest,” he added.
Mr Gyamfi also defended GoldBod’s performance, citing a surplus of more than GH¢5.4 billion recorded in 2025, including an operational surplus of GH¢900 million.
He argued that the Board’s performance should also be assessed in terms of its efforts to curb gold smuggling, increase official gold purchases from the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, and boost foreign exchange earnings.
According to him, Ghana’s gold trading policy is designed to ensure that a greater share of the country’s mineral wealth is captured through official channels rather than lost to smuggling and other informal transactions.
He maintained that the government was convinced the policy was delivering results and would continue to pursue its objectives despite differing views on the financial implications of GoldBod’s operations.
