Ghana is ramping up its gold reserve accumulation ambitions, with the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) setting a target of three tonnes of gold purchased every week under a bold new national programme — a pace that officials say will generate more than $400 million weekly for the Ghanaian economy through 2028.
Sammy Gyamfi, Esq., Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, made the disclosure on Saturday, May 9, 2026, during an appearance on TV3’s Key Points programme, where he outlined the scope and objectives of the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme — known by its acronym, GANRAP.
A Two-Pronged Sourcing Strategy
Under the programme’s operational design, the bulk of the weekly gold target — 2.45 tonnes — will be sourced from the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, with large-scale mining companies contributing an additional 0.55 tonnes per week to meet the three-tonne benchmark.
The ambition is both fiscal and strategic. Gyamfi explained that GANRAP sits at the heart of President John Mahama’s broader economic reset agenda, designed to fortify Ghana’s foreign reserves, stabilise the cedi, and insulate the economy from the kind of external shocks that have previously devastated it.
“We want to accumulate about 15 months of import cover so that when there is any external shock like COVID-19 or the Russia-Ukraine war, Ghana’s economy can stand the test of time,” Gyamfi told viewers.
The programme’s roots lie in the institutional transition that followed GoldBod’s establishment in April 2025. In the months after its creation, the institution initially maintained the Bank of Ghana’s existing Domestic Gold Purchase Programme while simultaneously implementing internal reforms, restructuring operations, and laying the groundwork for a more efficient gold trading architecture.
That transitional phase has now ended. Gyamfi confirmed that government has moved fully into the GANRAP framework — a programme that has secured approval from both Cabinet and Parliament — with a sharpened focus on operational efficiency and cost reduction.
Dramatic Cost Cuts Already Underway:
Among the most consequential developments under the new programme is a sweeping reduction in the cost of gold reserve accumulation. Under the previous Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, operational costs ran at approximately 16 percent.
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GANRAP has already brought that figure down to 7.25 percent, with a roadmap to compress it further — to 5 percent next year and eventually 3 percent. That downward trajectory has been driven by a series of structural changes to how government conducts its gold transactions.
GoldBod has abandoned the practice of purchasing gold at forex bureau rates in favour of the interbank rate, a shift Gyamfi said has substantially curtailed the losses generated by exchange rate disparities.
Government has also moved to reduce discount arrangements on gold exports while tightening systems to minimise purity losses and other operational costs that had long eroded the value of Ghana’s gold proceeds.
“This is about building a resilient economy at a lower cost while ensuring that Ghana derives maximum benefit from its gold resources,” Gyamfi emphasised.
GANRAP represents a deliberate pivot in how Ghana intends to leverage its most valuable mineral asset. Implemented through the Ghana Gold Board, the programme is engineered not only to increase in-country gold retention but to transform the sector into a durable pillar of macroeconomic stability — one capable of strengthening the country’s foreign exchange buffers, steadying the cedi, and ensuring that Ghana captures greater long-term value from the gold buried beneath its soil.
For a country whose economic fortunes have historically swung with the volatility of commodity prices and donor financing cycles, the programme represents a bet on self-sufficiency — and on gold as the instrument that makes it possible.