Former Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has expressed concerns over the Mahama government's sale of half of Ghana's total gold reserves last year.
In a post on his Facebook page, Dr. Amin Adam questioned the rationale behind the government selling half of the nation’s gold reserves built by the previous Akufo-Addo government, thus defeating the purpose for the accumulation of the gold.
The former Finance Minister recounted the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) government built the gold reserves from a meagre 8 tonnes to over 30 tonnes through its “Gold For Reserves” policy which was championed by former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Questioning the government's gold sale decision, Dr. Amin Adam said the sale “raises serious concerns about policy consistency and balance sheet management”.
"Against this backdrop, the liquidation of more than half (+50%) of these reserves—generating approximately US$1.5 billion in financial gains—raises serious concerns about policy consistency and balance sheet management."
"The central question is not whether reserves can be reallocated, but why such a substantial share was sold, and how the proceeds were used,” Dr. Amin Adam further stated.
He added; "If these transactions were primarily undertaken to offset financial losses, then this represents a fundamental shift from reserve accumulation toward balance sheet repair. In that case, headline financial outcomes risk overstating underlying performance, unless one-off gains from gold sales are clearly separated from core operational results."
Dr. Adam also stressed the Central Bank ''must prove that it did not sell the gold to cover huge losses recorded in 2025”.
"How will the Bank report its 2025 losses vis-avis the gains from the sale of gold reserves? How sustainable is this practice where operational losses can easily be offset by the sale of our gold reserves?,” he queried.
"The Bank of Ghana is yet to tell Ghanaians that the real reason behind the sale was not to achieve the right proportions of assets between foreign currency and gold, but simply to cover losses occasioned by its poor management of the Bank."