Official vs. Black market: Understanding the exchange rate ‘gap’ between BOG and GoldBod

Researched by Nusrat Essah

Viral claims on social media, especially Facebook, suggest that the Ghana Gold Board (Goldbod) platform has often pegged the dollar-rated price of gold at a rate different from the official Bank of Ghana (BoG) rate. 

The claims, which began circulating on July 1, 2025, had users questioning why the Goldbod’s cedi to dollar rate differed significantly from the official rate published by the central bank.

The posts came with captions, including: “Please do you know why Sammy Gyamfi’s Goldbod is doing $1 = 12.5gh on their website, while BOG rates say something completely different? Anaa the BOG rates are just for social media?” 

Other posts picked out the fluctuating nature of the exchange rates with screenshots from the GoldBod website.

This sparked public debate over why various state institutions often publish or operate with exchange rates that differ from BOG’s official interbank reference rate.

Comparing the rates: BOG, Goldbod, and Cocobod 

On July 1, 2025, the BoG’s exchange rate for the U.S. dollar stood at GH¢10.33, but Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) stood at GH¢ 10.32 while GoldBod used a cedi-dollar rate of GH¢12.50.

On July 2, 2025, while BOG’s exchange rate stood at GH¢ 10.32, GoldBod pegged the rate at GH¢10.50. 

GoldBod’s explanation

Responding to the viral concerns about the different rates between GoldBod and BOG, GoldBod CEO, Sammy Gyamfi, on X,  provided clarification on the issue.

He explained that, for years, Ghana’s domestic gold market had been using the black market exchange rates rather than the BOG’s interbank rate. 

“Gold has always been bought in the local Ghanaian market based on the informal retail forex rate, popularly called, “Black Market” rate since time immemorial. When I assumed office as Ag. MD of the PMMC on 22nd January, 2025, gold was being bought by all market players including public and private entities at a “black market rate” of about GHS16.” 

According to Sammy Gyamfi, what GoldBod has sought to do is to change this black market buying rate phenomenon which is the primary source of forex trading losses by the BoG, MIIF and other responsible traders through GoldBod’s market regulatory powers.

“By April 2025, the GoldBod had succeeded in bringing the local buying rate to interbank levels. We managed to sustain local prices at interbank levels for about two months. However, due to lack of permanent market regulatory systems, the GoldBod was in the last 2 weeks of June 2025, compelled to raise its buying rate to “black market” levels. 

“This was to deal with extreme competition from smugglers and hoarders who were taking undue advantage of the wide disparity between the interbank rate (GHS10.3) and the black market rate (over GHS12),” his post of July 3, 2025 on X read in part.

Expert insight: Why rates differ?

To further understand the broader context of the rate differences, GhanaFact consulted an economist, Dr. Theophilus Acheampong, who provided a breakdown of the dynamics influencing exchange rate variations.

He explained: “BoG reference rate is the baseline. In an open economy such as ours, there will always be slightly different prices between the official rate and the forex bureaus. The commercial banks rate will be different from BOG rate as they also purchase and sell dollars largely based on customer deposits. 

“For government institutions, I can see why they must quote using the BOG reference rate, but they’d argue that will result in FX losses for them, especially if they also have to get dollars from the open market for their activities,” he added.

Conclusion

While BoG reserves the right to determine the official exchange rate for foreign currencies, market dynamics, and pressure from the informal sector, sometimes lead to an adjustment in the exchange rates by various institutions, both public and private.