The Institute of Fiscal Policy Governance has rejected claims that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) recorded a loss of approximately US$1.7 billion, or GH¢22 billion, in 2025, insisting that the institution’s audited financial statements show a surplus of GH¢5.44 billion.
The Institute, in a statement issued on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, said the claim made by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin and members of the Minority Caucus was not supported by GoldBod’s audited accounts.
According to the Institute, GoldBod’s Statement of Financial Performance for the year ended December 31, 2025, recorded total revenue of GH¢5.553 billion and total expenditure of GH¢109.585 million.
This resulted in a surplus of GH¢5.444 billion before exceptional items and GH¢5.443 billion after exceptional items.
“These are not political estimates. They are figures contained in the audited financial statements of the institution,” the Institute stated.
It argued that describing the audited surplus as a GH¢22 billion loss was inaccurate and called for public discussions about GoldBod’s finances to be based on verified financial records.
GoldBod and BoG losses
The Institute further accused the Minority of conflating GoldBod’s financial position with the financial consequences of the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.
It stressed that GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana are separate public institutions with distinct statutory functions, accounting records, balance sheets and reporting obligations.
According to the Institute, any loss recorded by the central bank in connection with monetary policy interventions, reserve accumulation, foreign exchange operations or valuation movements cannot automatically be attributed to GoldBod without evidence showing the accounting and legal basis for such attribution.
It said GoldBod’s role as an aggregator within the wider policy framework does not automatically make every cost or valuation movement recorded on the Bank of Ghana’s books a trading loss of GoldBod.
Institute challenges Minority to provide evidence
The Institute also pointed to what it described as a contradiction in the Minority Leader’s position, saying Mr. Afenyo-Markin acknowledged during his press conference that GoldBod had published a profit in its own accounts.
It questioned the basis for subsequently claiming that GoldBod incurred additional losses “off the books.”
The Institute challenged the Minority to produce an audited schedule establishing the alleged GH¢22 billion loss, a transaction-by-transaction reconciliation, an Auditor-General’s finding confirming the loss, or accounting entries showing the amount as a liability or trading loss attributable to GoldBod.
It also questioned the basis for attributing expenditure recognised by the Bank of Ghana to GoldBod’s financial statements.
Auditor-General’s role
The Institute rejected suggestions that the Auditor-General may not have had the “full picture” when auditing GoldBod.
It said if the Minority has evidence that material financial information was withheld from the Auditor-General, such evidence should be made public and the appropriate constitutional and statutory mechanisms invoked.
According to the Institute, audited financial statements should remain the authoritative financial record unless they are lawfully restated, qualified or displaced by competent audit evidence.
GH¢4.547bn grant
The Institute also addressed the GH¢4.547 billion grant disclosed in GoldBod’s 2025 financial statements, saying the amount should not be presented as evidence of a trading loss.
It stated that the allocation was provided for in the 2025 national budget and subsequently reflected in the Appropriation Act, 2025 (Act 1126).
The Institute maintained that the existence of the government grant does not alter GoldBod’s reported financial result or support the claim of a GH¢22 billion loss.
While stressing its support for parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of GoldBod’s operations, the Institute said such scrutiny must be grounded in proper accounting principles and evidence.
It therefore called on the Minority to either produce audited evidence demonstrating that GoldBod incurred the alleged GH¢22 billion loss or stop presenting losses or costs attributed to the Bank of Ghana’s programme as losses recorded by GoldBod.
“The facts presently available are straightforward: GoldBod’s audited accounts do not report a GH¢22 billion loss. They report a surplus of approximately GH¢5.44 billion,” the Institute said.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
