The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) plans to sell US$800 million in foreign exchange to commercial banks in November, US$211 million, or 20.9%, less than it sold to them in October.
In an update on 2 November, GoldBod said it expects to generate US$1.2 billion in foreign exchange from artisanal and small-scale gold trading this month, according to NorvanReports. The sales to banks will go through its GoFX platform.
In October, the Board said it generated US$1.011 billion and sold all of it to authorised commercial banks. November's US$1.2 billion target is US$189 million, or 18.7%, higher than that.
The US$800 million earmarked for banks is two thirds of the projected November proceeds, leaving US$400 million outside the bank allocation. GoldBod did not say where that balance will go, but repeated that it will keep supporting the Bank of Ghana's efforts to build up foreign reserves under the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy.
The update did not include a weekly sales schedule, a bank-by-bank breakdown, export volumes or prices, so it is not possible to tell how much of October's figure came from the amount of gold traded and how much from gold prices.
If the November target is met, GoldBod would have generated US$2.211 billion over the 2 months and sold US$1.811 billion of it to banks.