The smallest gold coin costs more than twice as much
Bank of Ghana sells a one-ounce gold coin at about 3.5% above the metal in it. The quarter-ounce coin costs 7.75% above. Same gold, and the difference falls on whoever has least to spend.
Bank of Ghana publishes a price for the Ghana Gold Coin every working day by 9am. Three denominations, one figure each, derived from the previous day's LBMA gold price and the Bloomberg USD/GHS rate. On 28 August 2026 they read:
| Denomination | Price |
|---|---|
| 1.00 oz | GH₵53,013.65 |
| 0.50 oz | GH₵26,857.84 |
| 0.25 oz | GH₵13,802.71 |
Nothing there looks unusual. Half an ounce costs about half; a quarter costs about a quarter. The circular prints no commentary and no comparison, and there is no reason a reader would do arithmetic on it.
But the same circular carries the two figures the price was built from: the LBMA gold price of $4,568.95 an ounce, and an exchange rate of 11.2150. Multiply them and an ounce of gold was worth about GH₵51,241 that day.
What each coin costs above the metal in it
| Denomination | Price | Metal worth | Above the metal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.00 oz | GH₵53,013.65 | GH₵51,240.77 | 3.46% |
| 0.50 oz | GH₵26,857.84 | GH₵25,620.38 | 4.83% |
| 0.25 oz | GH₵13,802.71 | GH₵12,810.19 | 7.75% |
The premium is what pays for minting, the central bank's guarantee and distribution. It is a real and reasonable cost. What is less obvious is that it more than doubles as the coin gets smaller.
Buy an ounce of gold in four quarter-ounce pieces and it costs GH₵55,211 against GH₵53,014 for a single coin — about GH₵2,197 more for the same quantity of the same metal.
Who pays it
The person who cannot afford a full ounce.
A saver with GH₵55,000 can buy the one-ounce coin and pay 3.46%. A saver with GH₵14,000 has one option, and it costs 7.75%. The pricing is not aimed at anyone — it presumably reflects that minting four small coins costs more than minting one large one — but the effect is that the cost of owning gold in Ghana rises as the buyer's means fall.
That pattern is not confined to gold. It is the same shape as fund minimums, where the cheapest charges sit behind the highest entry thresholds, and as SME lending, where the smallest borrowers pay the widest spreads.
And the entry price is the larger barrier
The cheapest way into the Ghana Gold Coin is GH₵13,803.
Stanbic Cash Trust accepts GH₵20. Gold is recommended to ordinary savers everywhere as protection against inflation and currency weakness, and in Ghana the cheapest coin costs 690 times what the cheapest money market fund asks for.
There is one alternative. The NewGold ETF trades on the Ghana Stock Exchange at about GH₵462 a unit — roughly one hundredth of an ounce, backed by physical bullion. Thirty times cheaper to start than the smallest coin.
It is charged differently, though, and that matters more than it first appears.
What it costs to hold gold, all in
The coin is paid for once, when you buy it. The ETF costs something on the way in, on the way out and every year. On the Bank of Ghana's last published prices (28 August 2026), with the GH₵50 per-coin fee three banks list and the 0.15% buy-back charge Absa and OmniBSIC list:
| To buy | To sell | Every year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghana Gold Coin, 1 oz | 3.56% | 0.15% | nothing |
| Ghana Gold Coin, ½ oz | 5.03% | 0.15% | nothing |
| Ghana Gold Coin, ¼ oz | 8.14% | 0.15% | nothing |
| NewGold ETF | 1.5% to 2.5% | 1.5% to 2.5% | 0.30% |
The ETF's costs to buy and sell are set by the stock exchange's rules: a broker's commission of 0.80% to 1.80%, negotiated with you, plus 0.70% in levies. Where in that range your broker charges decides the comparison:
| The ETF is cheaper for about… | Broker at 1.5% each way | Broker at 2.5% each way |
|---|---|---|
| Against the one-ounce coin | 2 years | never — the coin costs less from the start |
| Against the half-ounce | 7 years | 1 year |
| Against the quarter-ounce | 18 years | 11 years |
So how much you are buying decides it. For a full ounce, the coin can cost less than the ETF once the broker is paid. For smaller amounts the ETF is cheaper for most people, most of the time — and it is the only way into gold for less than GH₵13,803. Either way, ask a broker where in the range you will pay before you buy; the brokers page explains the range.
Updated 26 September 2026. This section first compared the coin's premium with the ETF's annual charge alone, leaving out the broker's costs and the bank's per-coin fee, and gave crossovers of 12, 16 and 26 years.
What gold actually did
There is one more thing the daily circulars show, and it is the least comfortable.
Between 1 June and 28 August 2026, gold rose 0.51% in dollars. The Ghana Gold Coin fell 3.93% in cedis.
The difference is the currency. The cedi strengthened from 11.735 to 11.215 against the dollar over those months, and a strengthening currency works against anyone holding a dollar-priced asset. Add the premium paid on purchase and a buyer who bought a one-ounce coin on 1 June was down about 7.5% by the end of August.
Gold is bought as protection against a falling currency. Over that period the cedi rose, so it guarded against something that did not happen — and the premium was paid either way.
That is not an argument against gold. It is an argument for knowing what you are buying, which requires figures nobody had put side by side until now.
Know when the numbers change
When the numbers move, what moved and where it came from. Treasury bill rates, bank lending costs, fund charges, inflation, and who is on the regulators’ registers — taken from Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Statistical Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission as they publish. No schedule, because the institutions do not keep one either.
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Where these figures come from
- Bank of Ghana — Ghana Gold Coin daily pricing circulars
- 56 working days from 1 June to 28 August 2026
- Absa Corporate and Investment Banking — NewGold ETF Minimum Disclosure Document
- Ghana Stock Exchange — monthly equities market reports
If a figure here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it, cited and dated.