The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama, has called for a broad, unified national effort to reform Ghana’s gold trading and export framework, stressing that collaboration rather than blame is key to safeguarding the country’s economic stability and natural resources.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Accra on Monday, January 12, Dr Asiama emphasised the urgent need for stakeholders across the value chain to work together to improve efficiency, curb leakages, and strengthen Ghana’s reserve accumulation.
“Going forward, our appeal is to move in a unified manner,” the BoG Governor told the committee. “We want everyone to get on board to reform this better, to sharpen its efficiency so that it supports economic stabilisation and supports our reserves build-up.”
As part of initial steps towards reform, Dr Asiama disclosed that the Bank of Ghana has begun engagement at the institutional level.
He revealed that the BoG Board is holding a joint meeting this week with the board of GoldBod, marking the start of closer coordination among key institutions in the gold value chain.
“This is just a start,” he said, adding that further meetings with other stakeholders are planned. He also extended an open invitation to parliamentary experts to participate in the reform process, expressing confidence that collaborative engagement could yield positive outcomes.
“We believe that it can be made a win-win,” Dr Asiama noted.
The BoG Governor cautioned against politicising the issue or focusing on assigning blame, pointing out that the challenges and losses associated with the sector long predate 2025.
According to him, the scale of financial leakages over the years has been enormous and detrimental to the national interest.
“A friend of mine made a comment I want to share with the committee,” he said. “He said, if this issue doesn’t unite us as a country, then he doesn’t know what other issue will unite us.”
Dr Asiama reminded the committee that some measures were taken in the previous year to reduce charges within the sector, but acknowledged that more needed to be done to consolidate and sustain those gains.
He warned that failure to act decisively could leave the sector vulnerable to smugglers, further deepening losses to the state.
“Other than that, we go back to leaving this space for the smugglers,” he cautioned. “If you look at how much we have lost as a country by way of leakages over all the years, it is mind-blowing.”
Reiterating his appeal for collective action, Dr Asiama stressed that reforming the gold sector is not merely an institutional task but a national imperative.
“Our appeal is that we work together going forward to reform this space,” he said. “It will help us as a country.”
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
