The recent surge in gold exports has been largely attributed to the contributions of small-mine and artisanal production.
The Government of Ghana anticipates annual revenues of US$12 billion ( about GHc139.41billion) from small-scale gold mining, if the output from its small-mine and artisanal mining operations is doubled as planned, according to a new Bloomberg report.
The recent surge in gold exports, driven by soaring international prices, has been largely attributed to the contributions of small-mine and artisanal production.
To streamline operations and combat illicit trade, the Ghana Gold Board was established this year to oversee all gold transactions, aiming to enhance foreign-currency reserves.
Ghana Gold Board CEO Sammy Gyamfi was quoted as saying: “Our goal is to move above three tonnes a week in purchases, up from about 1.5 tonnes a week in January.”
“We expect to be able to bring in about US$6 billion by the end of this year, but we are confident that we will reach the US$12 billion in annual inflows from next year.”
Following a debt default in 2022, Ghana has been excluded from international capital markets, creating foreign exchange shortages that led to cedi depreciating from GHc6 to US$1 at the start of the last quarter of that year to over GHc16 to the dollar barely a year later.
A retreat to a three year International Monetary Fund programme, inclusive of a US$3 billion financial bail out and underpinned by comprehensive public debt restructuring and a return to demand management fiscal policies, stabilized the fiscal hemorrhaging brought about by a mass exit of foreign investors from Ghana’s sovereign bond issuances and the cessation of new ones.
But significant cedi appreciation from those depths has only been brought about by increasing gold exports amid a surge in the gold price on the international market, an increase in gross international reserves to some US$10.6 billion as at mid May 2025 (this too driven by gold purchases by the Bank of Ghana), the fiscal space created by public debt restructuring and the fiscal discipline imposed by the President John Mahama administration installed in January this year.
Ghana is the biggest producer of gold in Africa, producing an estimated 4.9 million ounces in 2024 with a value US$1.02 billion. With the ongoing surge in production and prices Ghana’s gold exports increased to US$2.7 billion in the first four months of 2025, a major leap above the US$670.5 million recorded during the corresponding period of 2024.
