Former Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Karaga, Mohammed Amin Adam, has alleged that the Bank of Ghana used proceeds from gold sales to mask the true extent of its financial losses in 2025.
In a Facebook post on Friday, May 1, Dr Amin Adam claimed the central bank’s reported net loss of GHS15.6 billion would have been significantly higher if gains from gold sales had not been recognised in its profit and loss account.
According to him, the Bank reportedly sold about 18 tonnes of Ghana’s gold reserves accumulated under the previous New Patriotic Party administration, generating approximately GHS40.3 billion in proceeds and a net gain of GHS9.57 billion.
He argued that although the Bank had explained the transaction as a reserve portfolio rebalancing exercise, the published financial statements raised doubts about that justification.
“There was no obvious macroeconomic need for such rebalancing, especially under a policy framework that had previously been approved to build—not reduce—gold reserves,” he wrote.
Dr Amin Adam further claimed that the GHS9.57 billion gain from the gold sale was reclassified from equity and recognised as realised income.
“This is critical,” he stated.
“Therefore, the GHS15.6 billion net loss reported in 2025 must be interpreted in context. If these gold gains had not been recognised in the profit and loss account, the loss would have exceeded GHS25 billion.”
He added that the Bank’s monetary operations remained expensive, citing sterilisation costs of GHS16.73 billion in 2025.
“The financial report notes that the Bank’s ‘strong policy solvency position’ in 2025 was specifically underpinned by a substantial inflow from bullion gold sales,” he said.
According to him, without the gold sales, the Bank’s operating income would have been insufficient to cover the sterilisation costs.
Dr Amin Adam also defended the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme introduced under former Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, describing it as a major buffer for the central bank.
“One policy by Dr Bawumia — the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme — has clearly been a major buffer for the Bank of Ghana,” he stated.
He accused the current management of the central bank of prioritising “optics over sound balance sheet management”, warning that using gold reserves to offset operational losses only concealed deeper policy challenges.
“The losses — driven largely by costly monetary interventions — raise serious questions about policy efficiency,” he added.