Ghana allocates $429M to boost foreign-exchange reserves through gold purchases

Ghana just carved out 5 billion cedis, roughly $429 million, from its revised 2026 budget specifically to buy gold. The goal: supercharge the country’s foreign-exchange reserves at a time when central banks worldwide are hoarding the yellow metal like it’s going out of style. The allocation flows through the Ghana Gold Board, known as GoldBod, a government entity established in 2025 as the sole authorized buyer of unrefined gold from artisanal and small-scale miners. The central bank used to handle this. The International Monetary Fund had some pointed opinions about that arrangement, flagging concerns about quasi-fiscal activities and the autonomy of the Bank of Ghana. So the government took over the checkbook. A gold rush, quantified The numbers tell a striking story. Ghana’s gold exports more than doubled, climbing from $10.3 billion in 2024 to $21 billion in 2025. Ghana’s foreign-exchange reserves hit a record $14.5 billion in February 2026, a milestone the government directly attributes to its gold-buying program. By June, reserves had pulled back to $12.9 billion. The broader strategy has a name: the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy, or GANRAP. Its targe...