Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has called on critics of the institution to ensure their claims about its financial performance are backed by accurate information.
Mr Gyamfi said losses were an inherent part of trading and should not, in themselves, be used to create a misleading picture of GoldBod’s overall financial position.
“Nobody is saying there hasn’t been loss, but be factual about it,” he said at the Government Accountability Series.
His comments come amid growing scrutiny of GoldBod, with Minority Leader and Effutu MP Alexander Afenyo-Markin demanding answers over what he claims is a GH¢22 billion loss involving the state-owned gold trading institution.
Mr Gyamfi, however, stressed that GoldBod’s operations should be assessed within the context of its mandate as a specialised gold trading institution.
He explained that GoldBod was established to take on gold purchasing and trading functions that were not part of the Bank of Ghana’s core mandate, particularly the commercial and trading aspects of the gold sector.
According to him, the Bank of Ghana’s primary role is to safeguard monetary and financial stability, while GoldBod was specifically created with the mandate and capacity to operate in the gold market.
Mr Gyamfi further disclosed that GoldBod’s activities have expanded significantly since March, moving beyond the purchase and sale of physical gold to include derivatives and other forms of gold trading.
“We don’t only buy physical gold, we trade derivatives. And we trade gold 24/7,” he said.
He acknowledged that such operations expose the institution to both gains and losses, but maintained that the key measure should be its overall financial outcome rather than isolated losses.
“In trading, you can make profit, you can make losses. We’re going to ensure that at the end of the year, your overall profit is more than your losses,” he stated.
Mr Gyamfi therefore called for a more evidence-based debate over GoldBod’s performance, insisting that claims about losses must be grounded in the institution’s actual financial records rather than what he described as inaccurate or misleading narratives.
The GoldBod CEO’s remarks come as the institution faces increased political scrutiny over its financial performance and its role in Ghana’s gold trading sector.
