‘If GoldBod wants credit, it must accept blame for losses’ – Dr Owusu Sarkodie

The Executive Director of the Center for Policy Scrutiny, Dr Adu Owusu Sarkodie, has argued that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) cannot claim credit for the accumulation of Ghana’s gold reserves without also accepting responsibility for losses associated with the programme.

His comments come amid a recent debate over a $1.7 billion losses recorded under the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).

The controversy has centred on whether the losses should be attributed to GoldBod or the central bank, with GoldBod maintaining that it acted as a buying agent for BoG and that the trading position and associated risks were recorded in the central bank’s accounts.

Speaking on Accra-based TV3’s KeyPoint programme on Saturday, August 22, Dr Sarkodie said the programme is fundamentally a Bank of Ghana initiative and should therefore be reflected in the central bank’s financial statements.

“It is a Bank of Ghana program, and so everything must sit in the books of Bank of Ghana. However, if GoldBod is taking credit for the reserve accumulation, that is why the other argument is that if you are taking credit, or you want to be part of the credit taking, then you should be blamed for the losses,” he said.

He said the distinction was evident in the audited financial statements of the two institutions, noting that the relevant figures appeared in BoG’s accounts rather than GoldBod’s audited statements.

Dr Sarkodie further argued that some level of loss was inherent in the design of the reserve accumulation programme because the policy prioritised building Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves.

He explained that the broader objective was to purchase gold domestically and build reserves that could subsequently provide the country with foreign exchange to support the cedi when necessary.