BoG is using ‘creative accounting’ to hide Goldbod losses – IERPP’s Dr. Baafi
Dr. Kwesi Nyame-Baafi, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP), has accused the Bank of Ghana (BoG) of allegedly concealing financial losses linked to the Goldbod arrangement through what he describes as “creative accounting” in the central bank’s annual report.
In a Facebook post on Monday, December 29, 2025, Dr. Baafi questioned the credibility of the BoG’s financial disclosures, asking pointedly: “How low can we sink?” He alleged that the central bank is “attempting to conceal losses arising from the BoG–Goldbod arrangement through creative accounting in its annual report.”
Dr. Baafi further challenged the official narrative surrounding Goldbod, which has been presented by authorities as a transformative intervention in Ghana’s gold sector. “If Goldbod is truly the ‘game-changer’ it is being marketed as, why must the central bank rely on such questionable accounting practices to present its books?” he asked in his Facebook post.
The IERPP Senior Fellow also placed the BoG’s external auditors, Deloitte, under scrutiny, warning that the controversy poses reputational risks to the global audit firm. “As a global audit firm, Deloitte must not allow itself to be reduced to a political instrument. Its credibility and international reputation are at stake,” Dr. Baafi further wrote. He added that his outfit would resist any effort to distort the central bank’s true financial position, noting, “We will challenge any attempt to misrepresent the Bank of Ghana’s true financial position and will invite scrutiny well beyond Ghana.”
Dr. Baafi also urged International Monetary Fund (IMF) to uphold its oversight responsibilities under its safeguards framework. “The IMF, too, should not look away,” he wrote, stressing that the Fund has “a clear responsibility to ensure that the Bank of Ghana’s financial statements accurately reflect economic reality.” According to him, “accounting manoeuvres that obscure losses strike at the very core of these safeguards and cannot be treated lightly.”
The economist also disclosed that both the Bank of Ghana and Goldbod have declined to respond to a Right to Information (RTI) request submitted by IERPP in May 2025. “That a central bank and an institution vested with monopoly powers over all small-scale gold produced in Ghana can operate with such opacity and apparent impunity is deeply troubling,” he observed.
He cautioned that the silence from the two institutions raises serious governance concerns. “What exactly are they hiding? When will they respond? Is it only after public resources have been irreversibly squandered?” Dr. Baafi asked, stressing that “transparency delayed is accountability denied.”
Dr. Baafi also appealed directly to President John Dramani Mahama to intervene, cautioning that continued inaction could have lasting political and institutional consequences. “President Mahama must not allow Governor Asiamah and the Goldbod Chief Executive to erode public trust, weaken institutional credibility, or stain his legacy,” he further wrote.
