How the GoldBod price is measured

This page explains how the figures on this site are produced, what they are based on, and what they should not be used for. The process is described plainly; no forecast is made and no unit conversion is shown that the board itself does not support.

Why the pound is the headline and what it weighs

The Ghana Gold Board is the sole buyer of artisanal and small-scale gold, and it publishes an approved purchase price per pound. That price is the one licensed buyers must pay, so it is the headline figure on this site. The board never states what a pound weighs, and the traditional Ghanaian gold pound is not the avoirdupois pound of 453.6 grams. The weight shown on this site is worked out from the board's own published figures: the pound price divided by the gram price that follows from the same LBMA price and cedi reference rate. That implied weight is labelled as implied, and it is the best available reading of what the board means by a pound.

The board's silence on the weight matters because a seller is paid by the gram after assay. A buyer's slip will show the weight actually weighed, the fineness after assay, and the price per gram. The implied weight on this site is therefore a check on the board's arithmetic, not a promise about what any particular lot will weigh. A seller should always ask for the weight in grams and the per-gram basis in writing before handing over metal.

What the reference rate is and why it matters

The GoldBod approved purchase price is built from the LBMA price in US dollars converted to cedis at a reference rate. That reference rate is not the Bank of Ghana's interbank rate; on the day measured it sat more than one per cent below the interbank rate. The difference matters because the same LBMA price and the same interbank rate would give a higher cedi figure. The board's reference rate is its own, and it is shown beside the interbank rate on this site so that a reader can see the gap.

A seller who is offered the approved price is being paid at the board's reference rate, not at the interbank rate. That is not a hidden fee; it is the rate the board uses to translate its dollar benchmark into cedis. The site shows both rates because the distance between them changes what the approved price means in the wider market. A widening gap makes the approved price less generous relative to a transaction priced at the interbank rate; a narrowing gap does the opposite.

How the world comparison is built from two separate sources

The world-metal column on this site is not taken from the GoldBod page. It is built from two separate sources: a world gold price in US dollars, and the Bank of Ghana's interbank mid rate. The dollar price is multiplied by the interbank rate to give a cedi figure for the same troy ounce or gram. That figure is a comparison, not a price at which anyone in Ghana is obliged to buy or sell. It shows what the metal would be worth if the interbank rate were the only conversion used.

The comparison is useful because it separates the movement in the world gold price from the movement in the cedi. When the approved price moves, it may be because the LBMA dollar price moved, or because the reference rate moved, or both. The world comparison at the interbank rate shows a third possibility: the LBMA price and the interbank rate moved, while the board's reference rate stayed still. That distinction is the point of showing two cedi figures side by side.

What this site refuses to print: an archive it does not have, dealer prices, forecasts

The Ghana Gold Board publishes no archive of its approved prices. The day-by-day record on this site is its own, one row per day from its readings, and it starts short. A reading is kept only if it passes the checks described below. No dealer prices are shown, because licensed buyers may not pay other amounts and an unlicensed offer is not a price in the same sense. No forecast is made, and no unit conversion is shown that the board itself does not support.

A reading is refused, and the previous one stays on the page, if the price is zero or outside a plausible band, if the LBMA figure differs from an independent world price by more than two per cent, if the board's reference rate differs from the interbank rate by more than four per cent, if the implied pound weight is implausible, or if the figure is more than a few days old. These checks are not a promise of accuracy; they are a refusal to print a figure that is likely to be wrong or stale. A reader who needs a price for a transaction should always confirm the current figure on the board's own page.