Ghana’s new gold-backed reserve policy represents more than an ambition to build a larger financial buffer. It marks a fundamental break from a decade of expensive borrowing that cost the country billions and contributed directly to the 2022 debt crisis.
Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament that between 2022 and 2024 alone, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) accumulated $5.65 billion in reserves through currency swaps and related transactions at a cost of $1.16 billion in interest. Eurobond borrowings between 2018 and 2021 to support reserve build-up cost taxpayers a further $2.5 billion in interest payments, debts Ghana is still servicing today.
The contrast with the new approach is stark. The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) generated approximately $10 billion in foreign exchange in 2025 at an operational cost of just $214 million, a fraction of what debt-financed reserve accumulation has historically cost.
Under the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy (GANRAP), the government is targeting gross international reserves of 15 months of import cover by end-2028, from the current position of 5.7 months. Intermediate milestones require reserves to reach at least 8.6 months by end-2026 and exceed 11.8 months by end-2027, implying average annual net additions of approximately $9.5 billion.
The operational engine of the policy is a weekly gold purchase target of 3.02 tonnes. At least 2.45 tonnes per week will be sourced from artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), with an additional minimum of 0.57 tonnes acquired through the state’s pre-emption rights over large-scale mining output under the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140) and the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703). Over three years, the government projects buying approximately 127 tonnes from small-scale producers annually, generating more than $20 billion in foreign exchange each year at current gold prices.
Gold acquired under the programme will be refined locally and held as physical reserves. It may only be liquidated with prior approval from both Cabinet and Parliament, a safeguard designed to prevent the holdings from being drawn down for short-term budget support.
Dr. Forson grounded the policy in Ghana’s improved macroeconomic position, pointing to real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 6.1 percent in the first three quarters of 2025, inflation declining from 23.8 percent in 2024 to 3.8 percent by January 2026, and public debt falling from 61.8 percent of GDP to 45.3 percent over the same period.
The debt overhang from past reserve-building, however, remains a live constraint. Ghana still faces $1.5 billion in Eurobond repayments to bondholders in 2026 alone, a reminder of the structural cost the GANRAP framework is designed to make a permanent feature of the past.
