Ghana's central bank lost more than $1.7bn in 2025 running its gold-buying programme, the International Monetary Fund has said, even as the scheme helped rebuild the country's foreign reserves and prop up the cedi.

The losses, disclosed in the IMF's 2026 Article IV Consultation and proposed Policy Coordination Instrument report, equalled 1.5% of Ghana's gross domestic product and were almost entirely tied to the Bank of Ghana's purchases of doré gold under its Gold for Reserves (G4R) initiative.

The Fund said the losses stemmed from service and assay fees paid to GoldBod, discounts on gold sold to off-takers, and exchange-rate losses arising from the gap between the forex bureau rate used to buy gold and the cedi reference rate used in the central bank's accounts.

While part of the losses reflected accounting valuation effects rather than direct economic costs, the IMF said they had weakened the central bank's balance sheet and led to transfers to recipients of foreign exchange sold at the reference rate. The losses exclude the cost of sterilising the reserves built up through the scheme. The Bank of Ghana's negative equity stood at 6.7% of GDP at the end of 2025, the report said.

Despite the financial toll, the Fund credited the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme with strengthening Ghana's external position. Gold-related inflows surged from $1.7bn in 2023 to $12.7bn in 2025, including $1.1bn in net gains from bullion sales, driven largely by higher purchases from artisanal and small-scale miners.

The scheme was "operationally central" to an eightfold rise in Ghana's gross international reserves since the start of the country's Extended Credit Facility-backed programme, the IMF said. Reserves reached $11.9bn by the end of 2025 — around four months of import cover and well above programme targets.

The stronger reserve position allowed the Bank of Ghana to scale up its foreign exchange sales from $1bn in 2023 to $10.6bn in 2025, easing market liquidity pressures. The cedi appreciated 41% against the US dollar over the same period, the report said.