Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has credited the clean-up of Ghana’s gold marketing system with strengthening the country’s reserves and supporting the recent appreciation of the cedi.

Speaking on PM Express Business Edition, he entered the debate over the economic impact of the Bank of Ghana’s losses, arguing that attention should also be paid to gains from gold-sector reforms.

The government's finance adviser said one of the major objectives was to move quickly to rebuild the country’s external buffers.

“One of the things was moving quickly to strengthen the reserves, which translated into the appreciation of the cedi,” he said.

His remarks come at a time when the central bank’s financial position has become a major subject of public discussion, with critics questioning the broader impact of its losses on the economy.

Mr Terkper said the recent developments in the gold trade should not be overlooked in that debate.

“It’s the sanitisation of the marketing of gold,” he said.

While acknowledging that the process was not perfect, he argued that the intervention delivered clear gains.

“I believe that, yes, you couldn’t get everything right, but at the same time, we need to compliment.”

According to him, the reforms brought greater order to a sector that had long suffered from leakages and weak controls.

“There’s some sanitisation of that whole sector, which led to a significant increase in reserves for the central bank,” he stated.

Mr Terkper also placed Ghana’s gold position in a wider global economic context, describing the commodity as one of the strongest alternatives to the US dollar.

“Globally, gold is the most aggressive competitor for the dollar, before you come to the euro, yen and others,” he said.

He said Ghana’s position as a major gold producer made it even more important to tighten oversight of the trade.

“Ghana is the Gold Coast,” he said.

He added that for years Ghana’s gold had been flowing out of the country and supporting other economies instead of strengthening domestic buffers.

“Ghana’s gold was going all the way out to other countries, which they were using to stabilise their economy, from the Middle East to Europe to everywhere,” he said.