Ghana’s gold purchasing from artisanal miners, a move to fomarlise the trade and significantly boost exports, would have negative implications on the agriculture sector, S&P Global Ratings has disclosed

The government, upon assuming office, established the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), the sole authority with exclusive rights to buy, sell, weigh, grade, assay, value and export gold and other precious minerals in Ghana.

 But S&P is warning that this could have negative effects on the agriculture sector, particularly the cocoa sub sector.

“The government’s initiative to purchase gold from artisanal miners is formalizing the trade and significantly boosting exports, particularly in the context of high gold prices. However, this has negative implications for the agricultural sector, especially cocoa farming”, it revealed in a statement on Ghana.

S&P also pointed out that Ghana’s fiscal performance should improve following significant slippage in 2024. “The fiscal deficit on a cash basis was largely in line with the revised budget, but the government accrued substantial arrears to suppliers and contractors, resulting in the deficit on a commitment basis being 3.7 percentage points of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) larger than budgeted, it added.

It also stated that Ghana’s FX reserves buffers are being rebuilt from low levels thanks to favorable current account dynamics. In 2024, the current account recorded its largest surplus on record, reaching $3.58 billion, or 4.4% of GDP. An improved trade surplus and higher remittance inflows fueled the increase. This helped usable FX reserves (gross FX reserves net of encumbered assets) rise by $2.8 billion to almost $4.6 billion.