The GoldBod and Bank of Ghana must share responsibility for losses arising from Ghana’s gold-buying and trading operations, Vice President of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Bright Simons, has argued.
Mr Simons said the losses could not be attributed solely to the Bank of Ghana’s role in determining the international selling price of gold, insisting that several decisions across the gold supply chain contributed to the outcome.
He was speaking at the Students & Young Professionals African Liberty Academy (SYPALA), organised by the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, where he responded to concerns over GoldBod’s operations and the reported losses incurred by the central bank.
According to Mr Simons, GoldBod is responsible for setting the local price at which gold is purchased, determining its purity, collecting the gold and arranging for its shipment overseas. The Bank of Ghana, on the other hand, determines the price at which the gold is sold internationally.
He argued that although the Bank of Ghana does not set the international price, this did not automatically absolve it or GoldBod of responsibility for losses generated by the broader system.
Mr Simons cited alleged problems with gold purity and instances in which gold returned to the Bank of Ghana was reportedly different from the gold for which payment had been made as examples of other factors that could contribute to losses.
He said the circumstances therefore required an assessment of the entire supply chain rather than an attempt to assign blame to a single institution.
Beyond the immediate losses, Mr Simons questioned the wisdom of the state taking an increasingly dominant role in Ghana’s gold industry.
He noted that Ghana had previously attempted to exercise greater state control over gold mining, including through the nationalisation of mines, but the experience had ended badly.
“We tried it before; it was a mess,” he said.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Ebenezer Madugu
