FACT-CHECK: Claims that government has sold gold reserves inherited in 2025 is misleading

Claim: Government has sold a significant portion of gold reserves it inherited in 2025.

Source: John Boadu, former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)

Verdict: Misleading

Researched by Samuel Nii Adjetey 

A former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has claimed that the John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has sold the gold reserves it inherited from the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government in 2025. 

“They talk about creating a GoldBod and that they have purchased gold. The gold that we reserved, they have sold all of it on our blind side… The gold reserves that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government gathered have been sold by this government on our blind side. If not for the balance sheet we saw, we would not have known that reserves of 32 tonnes, is now only 18 tonnes,” he said during an interview with the media during the NPP’s presidential primaries on Saturday January 31, 2026.

Pro-opposition social media accounts and the Minority in Parliament have made similar claims insisting that the government has sold a large chunk of the reserves they inherited. See here, here, here and here. 

But has the government sold the gold reserves they inherited? This report will verify the claim. 

Fact-check

To verify the claim, Ghanafact reviewed Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Summary of Economic data for 2024 and 2025. According to data from BoG, as at the end of December 2024 Ghana’s gold reserves was 30.5 tonnes up against 19.5 tonnes the same period in 2023. 

Ghana Fact also noted that per the BoG’s Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data published on January 27, 2026; gold reserves (officially referred to as gold holdings) had reduced to 18.6 tonnes in December 2025. The current figure represents a drop of 11.9 tonnes from the tonnage inherited in 2025 (30.5 tonnes).

Metrics	Ending 2024	Ending 2025
Gold Reserves (holdings)	30.5 tonnes	18.6 tonnes
Net International Reserves	6.44 billion USD	11.71 billion USD
Gross International Reserves	9.11 billion USD	13.82 billion USD
GIR (Import cover)	4.1 months	5.7 months

From the data above, gold reserves have indeed dropped a year after John Mahama took office in 2025. 

It is worth noting, however, that despite the drop in gold holdings, the Gross International Reserves (GIR) remained high, with a corresponding hike in the corresponding Net International Reserves (NIR). Another key metric that showed that the volume of Ghana’s gross reserves remained intact was the rising import cover data, which stood at 5.7 months as of December 2025 as compared to 4.1 months by the end of 2024.

Governor responds: Has the gold reserves been sold? 

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, in a post on his X handle acknowledged the public conversations on the reduction in gold reserves the NDC government inherited, explaining that the amount of gold reflected as reduced in the reserves has not been lost or sold, but has been converted into foreign exchange as part of a deliberate reserve diversification decision. 

According to him, “the change in reported gold holdings reflects a deliberate reserve diversification decision… A decision was therefore taken to rebalance the portfolio by converting part of the gold holdings into foreign exchange.” 

He stressed that the proceeds from the conversion “remain part of Ghana’s international reserves, are being actively invested, and are contributing to reserve accumulation and returns,” adding that the move “does not represent a loss of national assets, but a shift in the composition of reserves.” 

“There’s really no big deal with the BoG rebalancing its gross international reserves by selling some gold. It’s not as if the reserves have declined, and the money has been spent. It remains within the reserves. The BoG simply held more gold before and has now exchanged part of that for foreign exchange. It’s all still there. We are talking about 5.7 months of import cover now,” data analyst Alfred Appiah also said in a post on X.

From the above, the claim that the NDC government has sold the gold reserve they inherited is misleading. 

In an interview with GhanaFact, Mr. Boadu while rejecting the BoG’s explanation emphasized that he stood by his claims that the gold holdings had been sold and that the decision by government was not well thought through especially at a time gold prices were favourable on the world market.

“…because of the appreciation of the cedi, the value of the dollar is down, so the 14 tonnes that they have sold and converted (into forex), would have been better to remain in gold deposit than to remain in cash because the price of gold is increasing… as compared to the dollar that is reducing. So yes, it is a choice that is made but it is a bad choice,” he said.

Verdict:

Therefore, the claim is rated misleading.