GoldBod has been described as a “game changer” for Ghana’s economy, with the Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, saying the initiative has enabled the country to benefit significantly from rising international gold prices.

Mr Jackson made the remarks at Joy Business’ end-of-year economic forum, JoyBusiness Review 2025, held on Thursday, December 17. He said the timing of GoldBod’s implementation was critical, coinciding with a sharp surge in global gold prices.

According to him, gold was trading at about 2,000 dollars per ounce at the beginning of the year but has since climbed to around 4,000 dollars, with prices continuing to trend upward. He noted that GoldBod’s framework allowed Ghana to fully capitalise on these favourable market conditions.

“GoldBod was a game changer because it allowed us to reap maximum benefit from the tremendous increase in the price of gold on the international market,” he said.

Mr Jackson, however, cautioned that the gains should be treated as windfall earnings, stressing that gold prices may not remain high indefinitely.

“There are two sides to it,” he explained. “Because it is a commodity, these are windfall earnings and may not be sustained as we go along. We need to be careful about how we use that money, in a way that ensures that when times are bad, we can survive.”

He praised the decision to channel a significant portion of the proceeds into building Ghana’s reserves, noting that this has helped stabilise the cedi.

“The good thing is that a lot of it has gone into building up our reserves to shore up the cedi, and that is a good thing,” he added.

Mr Jackson also linked the sustained strength of gold prices to global political uncertainty, particularly developments in the United States. He said there is a school of thought that gold prices may remain elevated as long as President Donald Trump remains in the White House due to policy unpredictability.

“People want a sure hedge against the fact that you cannot really predict what the regime in the US is going to behave,” he noted.

Despite commending GoldBod’s performance, Mr Jackson said there is still room for improvement and urged authorities to intensify efforts to clamp down on gold smuggling, which continues to undermine national revenue.

He stressed that effective data use would be key to addressing the challenge.

“Smuggling will be clamped down by data. We should be tracking every single ounce of gold that is produced in this country,” he emphasised.