0
0 NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/asiama-urges-processing-of-gold-cocoa-and-oil/Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Dr. Johnson Asiama has called for Ghana to move urgently toward local processing of its three flagship commodities, arguing that adding value to gold, cocoa and oil before export could deliver a dramatic improvement in the country’s balance of payments while creating jobs and raising government revenue.
Asiama made the remarks at the signing ceremony of the second gold refining partnership between the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) and Royal Ghana Gold Limited, an agreement that expands the domestic refining network the government has been building this year.
“For us, processing our national resources is a strategy that is long overdue,” he said, framing local value addition not as an aspirational goal but as a fiscal and structural necessity that Ghana has deferred at significant cost.
His comments went well beyond gold, the sector where the most concrete progress has been made. He said cocoa and oil carry equally transformative potential if processed domestically, arguing that simultaneous progress across all three commodities could shift Ghana’s external accounts in a way that no single intervention in the current approach has achieved.
The Governor said the economic rationale is straightforward: jobs, stronger government revenues and greater oversight of the full value chain, benefits that disappear when raw or semi-processed commodities leave the country for final treatment abroad. He pledged the central bank’s full backing for initiatives that deepen this agenda.
The Ghana Gold Board signed its first domestic refining agreement with Gold Coast Refinery in January 2026, requiring the processing of approximately one tonne of gold per week. The latest agreement with Royal Ghana Gold Limited adds a second partner to that framework. GoldBod Chief Executive Sammy Gyamfi conducted an inspection of the Royal Ghana Gold facility in April before the deal was concluded, signalling the agreement had been in preparation for some time.
Asiama’s public advocacy for a comprehensive commodities processing drive gives the initiative a stronger institutional foundation. The BoG has historically focused narrowly on gold through the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, but the Governor’s framing of cocoa and oil as equally urgent fronts suggests the central bank is prepared to lend its weight to a broader industrial transformation argument that trade and agriculture ministries have made with limited impact.
NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/asiama-urges-processing-of-gold-cocoa-and-oil/
