Ghana's gold-backed reserve law tries to lock in the recovery against political turnover

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Parliament passed the Ghana National Reserve Accumulation Programme in February 2026, enshrining in law the gold-backed reserve strategy that has underpinned the country’s currency stabilisation. The legislation locks the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme into a statutory framework, making the practice resistant to reversal by a future administration that might prefer a different reserve mix.

The mechanism is straightforward but consequential. The Bank of Ghana purchases gold locally from miners in cedi, refines the metal, and exports it to build foreign-exchange reserves. The structure converts domestic mineral production into reserve assets without burning through the country’s hard-currency receipts, and it gives Ghanaian miners a domestic buyer at fair value. The combined effect has been a reserve build that international rating agencies have repeatedly noted as a structural improvement.

Monetary-Policy on The Tradewinds Brief

Ghana's gold-backed reserve law tries to lock in the recovery against political turnover