“We Don’t Trade Currency”: GoldBod CEO Sammy Gyamfi Clarifies Forex Model to PAC.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has declared that the Board does not trade in foreign exchange but sells foreign exchange it has generated through its mandatory operations. On Monday, October 13, 2026, the CEO appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament to state the Board's position and clear the air over accusations of speculative trading and regulatory violations. He argued that GoldBod was created by the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), with a clear mandate to generate foreign exchange to sell to the Bank of Ghana to facilitate the latter's accumulation of domestic gold reserves to serve as Ghana's official gold reserves.

"The Gold Board does not trade currency. The word trade means or connotes the buying and selling of a commodity. The Gold Board does not buy currency," the CEO said. He argued that unlike foreign exchange operators whose business it is to buy currency to sell and make a profit, GoldBod's business is to make a living by selling the foreign exchange it generates. He revealed that the board sells the foreign exchange it generates to the Bank of Ghana through the foreign exchange market to generate funds to buy more gold.

The CEO explained, per Section 2B of Act 1140, that the reason the Board cannot retain the foreign exchange it generates is that the Act requires the Ghana Gold Board to sell the foreign exchange it generates. The foreign exchange revenue enables the Board to provide the cedis to purchase additional gold. Since the GoldBoard has a $279 million USD seed capital advanced to it by the government to fund its operations on its inception, Gyamfi said the proceeds from the sales of foreign exchange enables the board to fund its operations of buying more gold.

In addition, he said at least 80% to 90% of the gold produced in Ghana is refined in Ghana before being sent to international markets, adding that the benefits derived from the Gold Board extend beyond just the foreign exchange it generates for the nation.

The Chairman of the PAC, Mrs. Abena Osei Asare, asked whether the Ghana Gold Board has a central bank licence to deal in foreign exchange, following which Gyamfi said the board's sale of foreign exchange takes place in a forex market that is regulated by the Bank of Ghana (BoG). He said upon obtaining the needed policy approvals to fund its operations from the Minister of Finance, as provided for by the Act, the GoldBod petitioned the BoG on September 23, 2026, where it got the necessary guidelines and approval to start selling foreign exchange.

To confirm that the special policy approval the Board got from the Bank of Ghana qualifies them to trade in foreign exchange, the members of the PAC requested the board to provide the entire communication to and from the Bank of Ghana. Gyamfi said they are ready to provide the documents for the central bank to ensure the integrity of the process. This came after controversy erupted over reports that the Ghana Gold Board had taken a huge amount of money into debt at inception.

During his valedictory statement, Gyamfi said the board finds it amusing that there have been allegations that the Ghana Gold Board took a whooping $1.7 billion deficit into 2025. The CEO said the board took a huge surplus of around GH¢900 million into 2025, with an overall surplus of GH¢5.4 billion. He said the only time the board had a huge expenditure was at inception when Section 12 of the Act allowed the board to incur GH¢167.75 million in initial costs, including the Ghana Gold Board Act legal costs, and stakeholder engagements, which would reduce as the years rolled.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Gold Board has been in debt-troubles as the board has struggled to clear the huge debts left behind by its predecessor, the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC). According to Mr. Gyamfi, the board has been able to clear a total of GH¢38.7 million, or 69.2% of the GH¢55.9 million debt owed to the Ghana Gold Board at the time of his swearing-in as the chief executive officer in January 2025. Out of the total specialized expenses, the Ghana Gold Board spent a total of GH¢11.2 million on corporate social responsibility (CSR) to promote health and education in various communities across the nation.