The Economy and Finance Policy Committee of the New Patriotic Party [NPP] says Ghana lost nearly $1.9 billion in a single year through the operations of the Ghana Gold Board.[GoldBod]

Addressing a press conference today, Member of Parliament for Karaga and former Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, said the losses go beyond the trading losses already in the public domain.

“Number one, the government scrapped the 1.5 percent withholding tax on unprocessed small-scale gold, and for 2025 alone, it amounted to $150 million in revenue forgone. We did not get that revenue because of GoldBod’s operations. That is a loss that hasn’t been accounted for,” he said.

According to Dr. Amin Adam, if the forgone tax revenue is added to the $1.7 billion trading losses being discussed, the total cost to the country in that single year approaches $1.9 billion.

He outlined other financial support given to GoldBod which he said has not been properly accounted for.

“Apart from scrapping the withholding tax, government provided GoldBod with GH¢4.54 billion as revolving fund, which they are now using as part of their revenue to declare a surplus,” he stated.

Dr. Amin Adam further pointed out that under Section 21 of the Ghana GoldBod Act, GoldBod has been exempted from tax payment.

“So it has paid nothing into government’s main treasury. They haven’t paid income tax, even though they’ve declared surpluses. They haven’t paid dividends to government, even though they’ve declared surpluses. So why is Ghana losing that money if really GoldBod calls it a surplus?” he questioned.

He also revealed that the Bank of Ghana financed GoldBod’s entire gold operations interest-free.

“The government also allowed the Bank of Ghana to finance the whole GoldBod operations interest-free. They did not charge any interest for the money they gave to GoldBod to go and buy gold. So why is it that GoldBod did not account for interest on that money in their cost build-up? If they added that to their cost, what they are calling a surplus would have exposed them,” he argued.

The former Finance Minister said in the history of the country, no government agency has been given such privileges.

“Therefore, in the history of this country, never have we seen an agency of government given a golden spoon similar to what GoldBod has been given, and yet it is the same agency whose operations brought us unprecedented losses in a single year, whilst it claims it made surplus,” he said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that is a separate issue I would like to raise here. If you do a quantity review of the Bank of Ghana’s 2025 accounts…”

Report by Bernard K Dadzie Greater Accra Region