Ghana starts gold purchase programme to strengthen currency

Ghana has started a bulk purchase programme to buy gold locally to raise the gold component of its reserves, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr  Ernest Addison has said.

The move is in a bid to strengthen the Ghana cedi without increasing inflation.

“We have started a bulk purchase program, domestic, where we buy gold locally and try to raise the gold component in our level of reserves. This is where the currency focus is,” Dr Addison said at a conference.

The gold, oil and cocoa producing country saw consumer inflation rise to an 18-year record of almost 24% in April despite efforts to contain price hikes and spur recovery.

The Ghana cedi saw the worst depreciation against the dollar of any currency besides the Russian ruble between January and March, according to Reuters data.

Its value has mostly stabilized since then, although it experienced another downturn over the last week.