Ghana Targets 15-Month Import Cover by 2028 with Gold-Backed Reserve Plan

The government has announced an ambitious strategy to increase Ghana’s import cover to 15 months by 2028, placing gold at the heart of a new national reserve accumulation drive designed to protect the economy from future global shocks.

Presenting the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy, GANRAP 2026 to 2028, to Parliament on Wednesday, February 25, Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, described the initiative as the country’s first comprehensive framework focused on building sustainable external reserves and ensuring long-term macroeconomic stability.

According to the minister, the policy signals a major shift from short-term, debt-driven reserve accumulation to a more structured, gold-backed and reform-led model. He said the plan builds on what he called a strong macroeconomic recovery in 2025 following the economic crisis of 2022 to 2023.

Stronger Economic Indicators

Dr Forson told lawmakers that real GDP growth averaged 6.1 percent in the first three quarters of 2025. Inflation declined sharply from 23.8 percent in 2024 to 5.4 percent, and further to 3.8 percent in January 2026.

The 91-day Treasury bill rate also dropped significantly from 27.7 percent at the end of 2024 to 6.4 percent in February 2026. Public debt reduced from 61.8 percent of GDP to 45.3 percent, while gross international reserves rose to 13.8 billion US dollars, representing 5.7 months of import cover, up from 4.0 months in 2024.

Despite these improvements, the minister cautioned that the traditional benchmark of three months of import cover is no longer sufficient in a volatile global environment shaped by commodity price swings, geopolitical tensions and climate-related disruptions.

Building an “Economic War Chest”

Under GANRAP, the government aims to increase reserves to 8.6 months of import cover by the end of 2026, 11.8 months by the end of 2027, and ultimately 15 months by 2028.

Dr Forson described the target as the creation of an “economic war chest” that would shield Ghana from commodity price shocks, global financing instability and external uncertainties.

At the centre of the strategy is a gold-backed reserve accumulation framework anchored on the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025, Act 1140. The law mandates the Ghana Gold Board to generate foreign exchange and support gold reserve accumulation by the Bank of Ghana.

Government has set a weekly gold purchase target of about 3.02 tonnes. This includes acquiring at least 2.45 tonnes per week from the Artisanal Small-Scale Mining sector and invoking pre-emption rights to secure a minimum of 0.57 tonnes weekly from large-scale mining companies.

The gold purchased will be refined and added to Ghana’s physical reserves. Any sale of accumulated gold will require prior approval from both Cabinet and Parliament.

Moving Away from Costly Borrowing

The Finance Minister contrasted the new model with what he described as an expensive and unsustainable approach used between 2017 and 2024, when Ghana relied heavily on Eurobonds, swaps, sale-and-buy-back transactions and commercial bank borrowing to boost reserves.

Between 2022 and 2024 alone, the Bank of Ghana reportedly accumulated 5.65 billion US dollars in reserves through swaps and related transactions at a cost of 1.16 billion US dollars in interest. Additionally, Eurobond borrowings between 2018 and 2021 used to support reserve build-up cost taxpayers about 2.5 billion US dollars in interest payments, with the debts still being serviced.

Dr Forson stressed that borrowing to build reserves contributed to the country’s debt distress in 2022 and was not sustainable.

In contrast, he revealed that in 2025 the Ghana Gold Board generated approximately 10 billion US dollars in foreign exchange at a cost of 214 million US dollars, significantly lower than the cost associated with borrowing.

Stronger Oversight

The policy also strengthens parliamentary oversight. Sales of accumulated gold reserves will require approval from Parliament, a measure government says is designed to prevent politically motivated withdrawals and protect long-term economic stability.

With GANRAP, government is betting on gold as a strategic buffer to reinforce Ghana’s financial resilience and reduce reliance on costly external borrowing in the years ahead.