Professor Peter Quartey, Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) and former head of ISSER, has praised the establishment of the Gold Board, describing it as a critical step toward cleaning up Ghana’s gold trading ecosystem and improving revenue generation.
Speaking at the JoyNews Business Economic Forum, Prof. Quartey said the Gold Board is helping to bring order to a previously fragmented and poorly regulated space dominated by unregistered traders.
“For me, the kind of sanitisation they are bringing to the market is very, very good,” he said. “We have all kinds of people trading in gold… they buy and go, and we don’t really get to tax from it. The export revenue that comes to the state is lost.”
He noted that informal operators, including itinerant foreign buyers, have long contributed to revenue leakages and weakened Ghana’s ability to capture the full value of its gold exports.
According to him, a more structured and supervised system will strengthen tax mobilisation and ensure export proceeds return to the country.
Prof. Quartey added that the Board’s work aligns with broader reforms within the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) and supports the Bank of Ghana’s recent strategy of building reserves with domestic gold purchases.
“This is one aspect that makes the Gold Board a positive establishment — export revenue, taxes, forex coming in,” he explained, emphasising the benefits for macroeconomic stability.
Ghana, one of the world’s leading gold producers, has been tightening oversight of the sector after years of concerns about smuggling, under-declaration and lost foreign exchange earnings.
The introduction of the Gold Board forms part of the government’s broader attempt to streamline the artisanal and small-scale mining value chain.
The economist stressed that improving supervision of gold transactions is essential at a time when the Central Bank is using gold to bolster Ghana’s reserves and support currency stability.
He said the reforms will only be fully effective if enforcement is consistent and operators comply with the new requirements.
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