The Chief Executive of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, says the institution is managing the country’s gold trade effectively despite the volatility of the commodity.

Speaking on Beyond the Numbers on JoyNews, Mr Gyamfi said gold trading was one of the most challenging activities due to frequent fluctuations in the commodity’s value.

“Gold trading is perhaps one of the most difficult things anybody can do because of how volatile the commodity is,” he said on Monday, August 10.

He, however, said GoldBod had a strong team working around the clock to manage its trading operations.

“But we have a very solid team at the Gold Board, trading 24/7, and our finance directorate,” he said.

Mr Gyamfi also said the GoldBod had received strong support from the Ministry responsible for the sector, which he said had helped the institution manage the challenges associated with gold trading.

“We’re heavily supported by our Ministry and so far, so good. It has its ups and downs due to the volatilities, but the Gold Board is managing the trade very efficiently,” he said.

Gold purchases

Mr Gyamfi disclosed that GoldBod had already purchased more than 69 tonnes of gold in the year, valued at about US$9.4 billion.

“And so this year, for example, we bought in excess of 69, 70 tonnes of gold already, and that is equivalent to some US$9.4 billion,” he said.

He explained that the inflows from the gold purchases were currently around US$5.5 billion to US$5.6 billion, partly because GoldBod was still hedging a significant portion of its stocks.

“And if you check the inflows, that is around 5.5, 5.6 billion dollars because we are still hedging a lot of stocks,” he said.

According to Mr Gyamfi, GoldBod expects to complete the hedging process by the end of the financial year and bring in the proceeds to support Ghana’s reserves and foreign exchange market.

“It is our anticipation that by the end of the financial year, we would have fixed our own fixed goods, brought in the proceeds to help build reserves, to help achieve FX market stability, whilst recording substantial profits for our activities,” he said.

He said the strategy would enable GoldBod to contribute to the building of the country’s reserves, support stability in the foreign exchange market and generate profits from its activities.