The Member of Parliament for Weija/Gbawe, Jerry Ahmed Shaib, has urged the government to heed advice from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to properly monitor and track gold reserves under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP).
He warned that failure to do so could continue to expose Ghana to huge losses in gold trading.
He cited an IMF report titled “Ghana: Selected Issues” (IMF Country Report No. 26/213), published in August 2026, which it said found that the gold programme incurred losses of more than $1.7 billion in 2025 alone, equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“That loss pushed the Bank of Ghana deep into negative equity,” he said.
‘Incompetence, negligence’
In a statement issued Wednesday (September 9), the Weija/Gbawe MP, who is also the Second Minority Whip, said the IMF and World Bank findings demonstrated the need for urgent scrutiny of the government’s management of the gold programme.
He also cited the World Bank’s 10th Ghana Economic Update: Reset for Growth, Sustaining Macroeconomic Recovery and Unlocking Transport for Transformation, which he said described GoldBod-related operations as “a significant and insufficiently monitored risk” to Ghana’s economy.
“In plain terms, nobody in this government has been properly watching how a well-designed programme is run and that is incompetence or negligence at the highest level,” he said.
Delayed reforms
Mr Shaib said the World Bank had also identified delays in reforms to GoldBod’s operations as an ongoing risk to Ghana’s economy under the current administration.
He said the concerns did not end there as the World Bank had also highlighted weak banks and specialised deposit-taking institutions that remained undercapitalised, the financial difficulties facing the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), and Ghana’s continued exposure to sharp fluctuations in international gold prices.
According to him, the risks were not being adequately managed by the government.
“Let us be clear that this is not a case against Dr Bawumia's original vision for gold-backed reserves but it is a case against this government's incompetent management of a good policy it inherited.
“A sound idea, poorly supervised, is how you lose over a billion dollars in one year and still have no answers for Ghanaians,” he said.
Parliamentary probe
The MP expressed satisfaction that the Speaker of Parliament had admitted its motion on the matter, opening the way for Ghanaians to obtain answers about the losses.
“The World Bank's latest findings only strengthen that case as they are further proof from yet another independent institution that Ghanaians are entitled to the truth behind these losses, and that truth can only come through a proper parliamentary inquiry, not press statements and denials,” he said.
Minority’s demands
He demanded full disclosure from GoldBod on the operations of the programme, including the discounts applied to Ghana’s gold, who approved them, the fees charged and who ultimately bore the resulting losses.
He called for a full parliamentary inquiry into GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana’s gold operations, with the power to summon officials and demand relevant documents.
“We need a full disclosure of the identities of off-takers, the discounts granted, the fees charged, and exactly who, GoldBod or the Bank of Ghana, bore each loss as well as systematic public disclosure of all contingent liabilities tied to the programme, as recommended on page 49 of the World Bank report,” he demanded.
Mr Shaib further called for transparent accounting of all gold reserves under standard reserve-reporting arrangements rather than having such reserves accounted for outside the normal books.
