The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has injected approximately $10 billion into the foreign exchange market since January 2025, in one of its most significant interventions in recent years aimed at stabilising the cedi and supporting dollar demand across key sectors of the economy.
According to highly placed sources within the central bank, the amount represents total dollar sales to commercial banks and businesses between January and the first week of December 2025. Officials describe the initiative as part of a broader “dollar intermediation strategy” rather than a direct attempt to defend the cedi.
The Bank of Ghana is financing these interventions through proceeds from its Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, which has reaped substantial windfall gains due to rising global gold prices.
Unlike previous episodes where heavy interventions drained international reserves, BoG officials say this year’s support has been carefully structured to avoid undermining Ghana’s external buffers.
The central bank has been channelling portions of the gold-derived inflows into three key areas:
- Reserve accumulation
- Upcoming external debt service obligations
- Dollar support for the forex market
As a result, Ghana’s reserves have strengthened despite the heavy injections.
The central bank’s latest economic and financial data shows that:
- International reserves stood at $9.1 billion in December 2024.
- By October 2025, they had climbed to $11.4 billion.
- Market analysts expect reserves to end the year above $12 billion.
This suggests the interventions have not depleted reserves, a point several market analysts emphasised to Joy Business.
In October alone, the bank injected $1.15 billion under its FX Intermediation Programme, conducting auctions on a spot, market-neutral basis.
These interventions are widely believed to be a major factor behind the cedi’s historic gains that month.
BoG’s own data confirms:
- The cedi appreciated 13.9% against the US dollar by end-October.
- Year-to-date appreciation stood at 32.2%, the strongest in recent history.
In November, BoG’s Board approved a new Foreign Exchange Operations (FX) Framework intended to streamline and clearly define the central bank’s role in the forex market.
The framework reinforces BoG’s commitment to:
- Reserve accumulation to protect against external shocks
- Reducing excessive short-term volatility by addressing disorderly market conditions
- Market-neutral intermediation of FX flows, using inflows from the Gold Purchase Programme and export surrender requirements
Crucially, the framework emphasises that the central bank will not target specific exchange rate levels but will intervene only to address market failures, especially in an environment where hedging tools remain underdeveloped.
Future interventions, according to the Bank, will follow a model of “structured discretion under constraint”, ensuring operations remain transparent, rules-based, and clearly communicated.
“Reserve accumulation and intermediation objectives will be achieved through transparent and well-communicated operations,” the Bank of Ghana noted in a recent statement.
