ACCRA, Ghana, 19th August: The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has defended the fees it received for services provided under the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP), rejecting claims that the charges contributed significantly to the central bank’s reported US$1.7 billion loss in 2025.
Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, said the institution received an assay fee of 0.258% and a service fee of 0.5%, bringing the total fees to 0.758%.
According to him, the combined charges represented less than one percent of the reported 17% loss in the value of gold purchased under the programme.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, Mr Gyamfi explained that the 0.258% assay fee was a standard charge for assay services provided by the national assayer and was approved under the Fees and Charges Act.
He said the fee was paid by gold exporters between 2022 and 2025, covering both private and public exporters, and was therefore not a charge introduced exclusively for GoldBod.
Mr Gyamfi further explained that the 0.5% service fee was also not unique to GoldBod, noting that the same charge had previously been paid to the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) and other aggregators operating under the DGPP.
He said the service fee was intended to cover the various costs associated with aggregating gold from Ghana’s 13 mining regions, including transportation, logistics, security, insurance, trade margins and smelting losses.
The GoldBod CEO therefore questioned the basis for attributing the Bank of Ghana’s reported losses to the fees paid to GoldBod for legitimate services rendered.
He argued that the costs would have been incurred and the corresponding fees paid to gold-buying agents and the national assayer regardless of whether GoldBod existed.
“Why should GoldBod be blamed for the Bank of Ghana’s losses simply because it was paid legitimate fees for services rendered?” he questioned.
Mr Gyamfi maintained that the 0.758% in combined fees could not reasonably be considered the cause of the reported losses under the DGPP, describing the charges as legitimate costs associated with the purchase, aggregation, assaying and handling of gold under the programme.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh(#RomeoWrites✍️)/ Presidential Affairs Correspondent | Ghana 🇬🇭
