Governor of BoG, Dr. Johnson Asiama

A JoyNews Research has revealed Bank of Ghana would have closed 2025 with a loss of nearly GH¢33.2 billion — more than double the GH¢15.63 billion it actually reported but for the sale of refined gold accumulated largely from purchases made in 2023 and 2024 under the central bank's Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).

A line-by-line analysis of the Bank's audited 2025 Financial Statements indicated that a single bullion-gold transaction absorbed GH¢17.56 billion of losses for the year through two distinct accounting channels.

The gold that did the rescuing was bought largely during 2023 and 2024, the same period when the cedi was sliding, fuel prices were biting, and Ghana was deep in IMF talks.

During 2025, the Bank of Ghana sold roughly 870,000 ounces of refined gold, about 27 tonnes of bullion. The buyers paid roughly US$3.6 billion for it, which translated to about GH¢40 billion in foreign exchange flowing into the country.

That gold had been sitting on the Bank's books for years, much of it acquired when global gold prices were lower. By the time it was sold, the price had moved sharply higher. The difference between what the Bank had paid for the gold and what it received was GH¢9.57 billion, and that went straight onto the income statement as profit. It was the single biggest line of income the Bank reported all year, larger even than the interest it earned on its lending.

But that is only half the rescue story.

There is a quirk in how central banks account for gold. When the price rises year after year, the Bank of Ghana doesn't book those gains as profit straight away. Instead, the gains get parked in what is essentially an internal savings jar, a special reserve that grows in value but doesn't touch the headline profit figure.

That savings jar had been filling up steadily through 2023 and 2024, two strong years for global gold prices. By the start of 2025, it held billions of cedis in unrealised gains, all tied to the gold the Bank had been buying.

When the bullion was finally sold last year, accounting rules required the Bank to crack the jar open and pour everything into the same year's profit-and-loss. That added another GH¢7.99 billion of gains into the income statement.

Combine the two effects, the GH¢9.57 billion profit on the actual sale plus the GH¢7.99 billion released from the savings jar, and gold delivered GH¢17.56 billion of relief in a single year. Strip that out, and the 2025 loss would have ballooned to about GH¢33.19 billion.

You can find full visualized analysis here

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Bank of Ghana saved from GH¢33 billion loss by selling gold purchased in 2023-2024

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