David Ofosu-Dorte, Senior Partner at AB & David Africa, has called for a radical shift in Ghana’s gold reserve strategy, urging the nation to move beyond merely "collecting bullion" to creating a sophisticated domestic gold market and a robust Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).

Speaking at the Crystal Ball Africa 2026 forum held at the Labadi Beach Hotel on January 22, Mr Ofosu-Dorte delivered his '2026 Crystal Ball Predictions' under the theme, "The Africa Opportunity - Time to take advantage."

He argued that while Ghana’s recent achievement of four months of import cover is a positive milestone, the next phase of economic resilience must involve deep value addition and market creation.

Mr Ofosu-Dorte highlighted the irony of Ghanaian consumers travelling to Dubai to purchase jewellery made from gold originally exported from Ghana.

He stressed that without a local market and off-take agreements, the country would continue to lose the most lucrative segments of the value chain.

“We do have the gold here but a lot of the ladies here and maybe somewhere, they go to Dubai and buy the gold we have exported there,” he observed. “We need to now use the additional value that will not make us lose our ranking to create a sovereign world fund. We didn’t create a sovereign world fund from cocoa.”

Mr. Ofosu-Dorte noted that while plans like the Gold Coast Refinery are steps in the right direction for adding value to raw bullion, these projects will only be sustainable if they are backed by guaranteed buyers.

“Having hit 4 months [of import cover for reserves], maybe we want to go to 6 months, whatever it is, we should move from collecting bullion [as reserves] to now doing two things,” he advised. “One I have heard this morning they want to do, which is adding value to gold like the Gold Coast refinery and other things. But you can't do that if you have not signed off-take agreements with the buyers.”

The legal expert’s "Crystal Ball" predicts that 2026 will be a defining year for resource-rich African nations to secure their long-term wealth.

He suggested that the "additional value" generated from processed gold should be the cornerstone of a new Sovereign Wealth Fund—a missed opportunity during the peak of the cocoa era.