John Awuah leads the Ghana Association of Banks and talked about how GoldBod could help Ghana's money become stronger. He spoke on Joy News last Thursday about billions of dollars Ghana loses each year from gold exports that nobody tracks. Awuah believes GoldBod can fix these problems and make Ghana's economy more stable. The country needs better systems to watch where gold goes after miners dig it up. Good management of gold exports could help the cedi gain value against other currencies.
Ghana exported 2 billion dollars worth of gold recently but Dubai claimed they bought 6 billion dollars from Ghana. Awuah asked what happened to the missing 4 billion dollars between these two numbers. Foreign buyers often skip official channels and buy gold straight from mining towns. Licensed small miners operate without much government oversight of their gold sales. Nobody knows how this gold leaves Ghana without proper tracking systems.
The missing billions should count as official export money that could make the cedi stronger. Awuah said hundreds of millions of dollars leave Ghana through these untracked gold sales. Some people buy cedis inside Ghana but keep their dollars outside the country. These buyers return to Ghanaian cities and purchase gold for export. Only 10 to 15 percent of their profits come back to help Ghana.
Ghana exported 2 billion dollars worth of gold recently but Dubai claimed they bought 6 billion dollars from Ghana. Awuah asked what happened to the missing 4 billion dollars between these two numbers. Foreign buyers often skip official channels and buy gold straight from mining towns. Licensed small miners operate without much government oversight of their gold sales. Nobody knows how this gold leaves Ghana without proper tracking systems.
The missing billions should count as official export money that could make the cedi stronger. Awuah said hundreds of millions of dollars leave Ghana through these untracked gold sales. Some people buy cedis inside Ghana but keep their dollars outside the country. These buyers return to Ghanaian cities and purchase gold for export. Only 10 to 15 percent of their profits come back to help Ghana.
