The Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) choice to sell over half its gold reserves in November and December 2025 may have delivered an important accounting advantage beyond just managing reserves. The sale reportedly brought in around $1.3 billion in profit—equivalent to roughly GH¢13 billion—which could substantially reduce the central bank’s losses for the 2025 financial year.
During the 129th Monetary Policy Committee press briefing on March 19, 2026, Governor Johnson Asiama confirmed that the sale of more than 19 tonnes of gold had yielded a profit. “The transaction made a profit of over $1.3 billion, and it is all within our international reserves,” he stated. Much of that profit came from the difference between the original purchase price of the gold and the much higher prices at which it was sold, driven by a sharp rise in global gold prices throughout 2025.
The main reason for offloading about 51% of Ghana’s gold holdings was to rebalance the country’s international reserves. Gold had come to make up a large portion of the reserve portfolio, increasing the Bank’s vulnerability to fluctuations in gold prices. Still, there is another aspect of the sale worth exploring.
The Bank of Ghana has faced financial pressure since 2022, when it stepped in to support the central government during the country’s economic crisis. That intervention led to unprecedented losses and pushed the Bank into negative equity. Discussions are ongoing to recapitalise the Bank’s balance sheet through measures such as government bonds, transferring certain state-owned enterprise liabilities—including those tied to the Ghana Gold Board and Ghana Cocoa Board—from the Bank’s books to the government, with completion expected by 2032.
In 2022, the central bank recorded a staggering loss of about GH¢60 billion. By 2024, that loss had been reduced to GH¢9.3 billion. Given the scale of the Bank’s operations in 2025, it was likely facing another major loss for the year. Aggressive open market operations alone cost the Bank around GH¢17 billion in 2025, a sharp increase from GH¢8.6 billion in 2024. Additionally, domestic gold operations carried out with the Ghana Gold Board led to over GH¢2 billion in losses during 2025.
The strong appreciation of the Ghanaian cedi also placed valuation pressure on the central bank. A stronger cedi reduces the local-currency value of foreign-currency assets. With the cedi climbing more than 40% in 2025, the Bank would have seen notable valuation losses on its dollar-denominated reserves. At the same time, income from foreign-currency assets converted to cedis would have been smaller, further hurting the Bank’s profit position. Together, these factors point to a sizable loss for the central bank in 2025.
The sale of roughly 19 tonnes of gold took place in November and December 2025, the final months of the Bank’s accounting year. Because the transaction generated a realised profit of about $1.3 billion (roughly GH¢13 billion), that gain could be recorded in the Bank’s 2025 profit and loss statement—subject to accounting rules and auditor approval. If included, the gold sale profit could meaningfully reduce the central bank’s loss for the year.
Although rising gold prices also produce revaluation gains for the Bank of Ghana, those gains usually do not pass through the profit and loss statement. Under the Bank’s updated accounting framework, only realised gains from transactions—not valuation gains—can appear on the income statement; valuation gains go into other comprehensive income. For the income statement to benefit, the gain must be realised through an actual sale. Had the gold sale occurred in January 2026 instead, the gain would have belonged to the 2026 financial year and could not have offset the Bank’s 2025 losses.
Similar balance sheet management has been seen elsewhere. For instance, the Banque de France recently reported a €12.8 billion capital gain from gold-related transactions, which helped it return to a net profit of €8.1 billion in 2025 after a €7.7 billion loss in 2024, according to Reuters.
Beyond accounting effects, the Bank of Ghana’s decision to sell roughly half its gold reserves also met its stated policy goals. The move helped rebalance the reserve portfolio, lower exposure to gold price swings, increase liquidity among reserve assets, and strengthen the Bank’s ability to intervene in foreign exchange markets when needed. Whether the profit from the November–December 2025 gold sale will be formally recognised in the Bank’s income will ultimately be decided by the auditors. The Bank’s audited financial statements are expected to be released at the end of April 2026.
