The Minority Caucus in Parliament has said the Ghana Gold Board’s response to questions over losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme confirms rather than rebuts the reported financial shortfall of US$1.7 billion, equivalent to GH¢22 billion.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, and signed by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Caucus said it had considered the full text of the GoldBod’s reply delivered at the Government Accountability Series and found that the Chief Executive did not dispute the International Monetary Fund’s finding of the loss in 2025.
“The GoldBod’s statement this morning confirms more than it rebuts,” the statement said.
“First, the loss is admitted. The Chief Executive does not dispute the IMF’s finding that there is a loss of US$1.7 billion (22 billion Ghana cedis) under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in 2025. He disputes only who should be blamed. This is public money, whichever State balance sheet it sits on.”
The Minority further argued that the fee figures provided by the GoldBod raise fresh questions about the agency’s claimed operational surplus.
It noted that the Chief Executive said the GoldBod accounted for about GH¢133 billion in advances in 2025 and earned an assay fee of 0.258 per cent and a service fee of 0.5 per cent, generating fee income in the region of GH¢1 billion, while posting an operational surplus of GH¢907 million.
“The plain implication of his own numbers is that the operational surplus he is celebrating is smaller than the fee income he collected from a programme that lost the state 22 billion Ghana Cedis. Strip out the agency fees and there is no operational surplus to speak of. That is the point he did not address, and it is the point he must now address,” the statement said.
The Caucus also rejected what it described as an attempt by the GoldBod to claim credit for positive macroeconomic outcomes while distancing itself from the programme’s costs.
It pointed to the Chief Executive’s reference to the 41 per cent cedi appreciation, the rise in reserves from US$8.9 billion to US$13 billion and the fall in inflation, saying an institution that claims ownership of the benefits cannot present itself as a passive agent when the costs are counted.
On funding arrangements, the Minority said the position kept shifting. According to the Chief Executive’s own account, responsibility for GANRAP implementation cost moved from the Bank of Ghana to the Ministry of Finance in July 2026, and by August 2026 the GoldBod was seeking to raise funds independently.
“Three funding arrangements in six months is not a settled model. We view this with curious eyes,” the statement said.
The Minority insisted that the GH¢22 billion loss reported in the IMF Sixth Country report, numbered 26/213 and issued in August 2026, amounts to a financial loss to the Republic and must be accounted for.
It also criticised the tone of the GoldBod response, saying a reference to a brothel had no place in a statement issued by a public officer accounting for public funds.
“Ghanaians asked for figures. They were given insults. The figures are still outstanding,” the statement concluded.
