Misleading! All foreign gold traders have not been ordered to leave Ghana by April 30

Claim: Ghana orders all foreign gold traders to leave the country by April 30.

Source: Social Media 

Verdict: Misleading

Researched by Nusrat Essah

A Facebook post by Africa View Facts showing the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, and images of gold and excavators, claims the government of Ghana has ordered all foreign gold traders to leave the country by April 30, 2025.

GhanaFact observed that the claim shared by Africa View Facts on April 15, 2015, has been circulated on other social media accounts like X and LinkedIn with captions such as; “The country, once called the Gold Coast, is Africa’s top gold producer. It wants to boost earnings, stop smuggling, and control gold from small miners. In 2024, Ghana’s gold exports rose 53.2% to $11.64B, with $5B from legal small-scale miners.”

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Fig 1: Screenshot of claim on Facebook

Fig 2: Screenshot of post on X

Fig 3: Screenshot of  LinkedIn post

Has Ghana ordered foreigners in the gold trade to leave the country?

Fact-Check

In verifying the claim, GhanaFact reviewed an April 14, 2025, press statement by the Ghana Gold Board announcing a series of directives surrounding gold trade as contained in the GoldBod law.

The directive by GoldBod does not expel foreign traders from Ghana or outrightly ban them from participating in the gold market. Rather, it restricts their involvement in local market trading and mandates that they operate through the new official platform, GoldBod.

“All foreigners are hereby notified to exit the local gold trading market not later than 30th April, 2025. A foreigner may, however, apply to the GoldBod to buy or off-take gold directly from the GoldBod,” Point 8 of the statement reads.

Fig 4: Screenshot of press statement by Goldbod

This means that while foreign nationals will no longer be allowed to participate in local gold trading, they can still engage in gold purchase or off-take transactions, provided the process is conducted through the Goldbod platform.

According to the government, the regulation is part of the reform that is aimed at formalising and centralising gold trading in Ghana, not a complete ban on foreign traders.

Verdict

Therefore, the claim that Ghana has ordered all foreign gold traders to leave the country is misleading.