Fifteen commercial banks have submitted formal letters of interest to scale up the provision of short-term cedi loans to Ghana’s Gold Board (GoldBod) to buy local artisanal gold. These loans are secured against, and settled by, the guaranteed foreign exchange proceeds – in United States dollars – generated when GoldBod exports the gold to international off-takers.
While banking executives have kept the names confidential due to ongoing compliance friction with the central bank’s operating framework, the sheer level of interest is being seen as huge progress over the state of affairs when this operational strategy commenced with fewer than five banks actively deploying capital to fund the initial US$75 million test auction on August 3, 2026.- an extremely narrow institutional base that signaled limited confidence among lenders in the sustainability of the arrangement without central bank involvement.
The programme was paused for consultations with the Bank of Ghana which viewed GoldBod’s auction mechanism as inconsistent with its operational framework, with both institutions subsequently working to reconcile the divergence.
Getting commercial banks to fund GoldBod’s purchasing activities has become critical to its ability to execute its mandate, since the Bank of Ghana withdrew from pre-financing the purchases in mid-year, following the International Monetary Fund’s concern that it was blowing a hole in the central bank’s balance sheet. The IMF has consistently pushed back against central bank involvement in commodity trading across multiple programme countries, viewing such arrangements as a source of hidden fiscal risk and potential balance sheet damage.
GoldBod Chief Executive, Sammy Gyamfi, said last week that the agency had raised nearly US$839 million in advances from commercial banks and gold off-takers between March and May to keep purchases funded without central bank support. However, since the BoG stepped back, the commercial banks have been reluctant to provide financing without government’s effective back-stop.
This transition created a fundamental vulnerability. Commercial banks, without a central bank guarantee, evaluate artisanal gold supply chain exposure through a conventional credit risk lens. The informal and fragmented nature of ASM operations does not lend itself easily to the collateral and risk frameworks that commercial lenders typically require.
GoldBod requires a constant revolving pool of GH¢15 billion to GH¢20 billion in working capital to sustain three to four weeks of continuous domestic artisanal gold purchases so the ongoing situation has created a veritable liquidity crunch in the Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM) industry.
As documented by Reuters this month, licensed buyers operating within GoldBod’s network went without payment for periods of up to three weeks during the same month. The operational consequences were significant and spread across Ghana’s two primary gold production zones. In the Ashanti Region, traders described spending entire days waiting for funds that did not arrive, with some days producing zero liquidity despite active gold being available for purchase. In the Western Region, at least one licensed buyer confirmed a payment gap extending to approximately three weeks.
Across both regions, some operators paused purchasing activity entirely rather than accumulate metal without the working capital to pay sellers.
Others resorted to borrowing at commercial rates to maintain purchasing continuity, compressing already thin margins.
The timing of these disruptions carries a notable irony. Global gold prices in 2026 have remained elevated, creating strong incentive for artisanal miners to sell output. The formal system’s inability to capitalize on favourable price conditions, while informal alternatives remained accessible, represents a direct threat to GoldBod’s core anti-smuggling mandate and elevated prices make supply chain disruptions especially costly at this moment.
The payment delays land as GoldBod tightens the terms buyers must meet to access financing at all. Under a new trade financing framework that took effect August 1, licensed buyers must post collateral worth 10 to 50 percent of any advance and clear existing balances with aggregators before qualifying, while a separate rule taking effect September 1 requires buyers to invest in X-ray equipment to verify gold purity. Kwaku Ohemeng Amoah, chief executive of the Chamber of Gold Buyers, said the funding gap reflects the constraints GoldBod now faces without direct central bank backing, and buyers may need to secure supplementary financing on their own.
However, it is reported that commercial banks are now competing behind the scenes to join this specific pool because it allows them to capture primary, reliable US dollar flows directly from gold exports—bypassing standard central bank distribution queues. While under the old system involving the BoG, financing risks were effectively state-guaranteed, under the new system they are self-secured through forward forex sales.
Gold Bod is also implementing tighter controls. Effective August 1, 2026, GoldBod introduced rigid due diligence, formal trade-financing agreements, and security guarantees. By validating commercial viability, GoldBod is trying to reassure commercial lenders who were previously uncomfortable lending without BoG guarantees.
Alongside the progress being made with the commercial banks, GoldBod is still leveraging Section 18 of the Gold Board Act, 2025, to source direct cash advances from global gold off-takers and large-scale aggregators, which has earned lots of financing so far this year, bypassing the central bank entirely.
The government launched GoldBod in 2025, establishing it as the exclusive authority for purchasing, selling, and exporting artisanal gold across the country.
By: Toma Imirhe / businesspostonline
