The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has publicly disclosed for the first time the precise source of the bulk of the accounting cost generated by its Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), revealing that the overwhelming majority of what critics have labelled a programme “loss” arises from a single exchange rate accounting convention rather than operational inefficiency or financial mismanagement.
Speaking on TV3’s Key Points programme on Saturday, May 2, 2026, Gershon Kudjo Agbledzorwu, Head of the Financial Markets Department at the Bank, confirmed that approximately 83 percent of the total DGPP cost is attributable to the gap between the forex bureau exchange rate used to pay miners and the Bank of Ghana’s official exchange rate used to record the transaction on its books. “About 83 percent of the cost was due to conversion from the forex bureau rate to the BoG official rate,” he stated.
The mechanics of this cost structure are embedded in the programme’s design. When the Bank purchases gold from small-scale and artisanal miners, payment is made in cedis at the prevailing forex bureau rate, which trades at a premium to the BoG’s official rate. The transaction is then recorded on the central bank’s balance sheet at the official rate. The spread between these two figures registers as an accounting cost differential at the point of each purchase, even though no funds leave the reserve system.
Agbledzorwu confirmed this design is deliberate, not incidental. The forex bureau rate is used as a policy incentive to encourage miners to route gold through the formal domestic market rather than sell to unlicensed foreign buyers or smuggling networks. The accounting cost is therefore the measurable price of sustaining that incentive structure and keeping artisanal gold output within the regulated supply chain.
The Bank further disclosed that the cedi’s sharp appreciation in 2025, which reached approximately 41 percent against the US dollar, materially amplified this cost. As the currency strengthened, the divergence between the forex bureau rate and the official rate widened, inflating the recorded cost differential beyond levels the programme’s original design had anticipated. This dynamic explains a significant portion of the jump in DGPP costs from GH¢5.66 billion in 2024 to GH¢9.05 billion in 2025.
The disclosure adds granular technical clarity to a debate that has generated considerable public and political attention since the Bank released its 2025 audited financial statements on April 30, 2026. As previously reported by NewsGhana, the central bank recorded a net loss of GH¢15.63 billion for 2025, with the DGPP cost forming the second largest single contributor after the cost of open market operations. Officials have consistently maintained that both figures represent deliberate policy expenditures rather than failures of institutional management.
An independent assessment by a University of Ghana economist cited by Citi News has confirmed the forex bureau versus official rate discrepancy as the key structural driver of the programme’s accounting cost, noting that a moderation of the gap in 2026, following the correction in the cedi, should reduce the cost burden going forward if no new appreciation shock materialises.
