The host of Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen show, Philip Osei Bonsu, has formally filed a Right to Information (RTI) request directed at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), seeking transparency regarding the financial performance of the state’s Gold-for-Reserve (G4R) programme.
The request, dated January 7, 2026, comes on the heels of an assessment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which reportedly flagged losses exceeding $214 million within the first nine months of 2025.
In his formal petition, Mr. Osei Bonsu cited Article 21(f) of the 1992 Constitution and the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), to demand a clear breakdown of the programme’s status.
He noted that while the central bank’s 2024 Annual Report made no mention of losses, the BoG has yet to officially publish a comprehensive report on the profits or losses of the G4R initiative since its inception.
The RTI request specifically asks the Bank of Ghana for:
- Annual Purchase Volumes: The volume of gold purchased for each year of the G4R programme.
- Financial Value: The total value of gold purchased annually since the programme began.
- Profit/Loss Statements: A year-by-year report of all recorded profits or losses.
The host of the show emphasised that this request is made in the interest of transparency and accountability on behalf of his listeners and the broader public.
The Bank of Ghana is currently undergoing its annual external audit. Until those audited financial statements are released later this year, the true cost—or gain—of Ghana’s gold-backed economic strategy remains the subject of intense national debate.
The push for transparency follows the IMF’s Fifth Review Report under Ghana’s Extended Credit Facility, which pointed to trading shortfalls and high off-taker fees as drivers for the alleged $214 million loss (approximately 0.2% of GDP).
However, the Bank of Ghana has dismissed these figures as speculative.
The central bank maintains that the G4R programme has been a critical tool in stabilising the Ghana Cedi—which appreciated by 40% in 2025—and expanding gross international reserves to over $13 billion by the end of last year.
The situation is further complicated by statements from the CEO of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi.
Mr. Gyamfi recently claimed that GoldBod itself generated an income surplus of over GH₵960 million in 2025.
He argued that even if the reported BoG trading costs were accurate, they represent operational costs rather than a national economic loss when compared to the $8 billion in foreign exchange mobilised by the board.
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