Title: Can gold investment provide a hedge against inflation and exchange rate? Evidence from a former Gold Coast

Authors: Alhassan Musah; Muazu Ibrahim

Addresses: Department of Accountancy and Commerce, University for Development Studies, UPW 36, Wa, Ghana ' Department of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK

Abstract: This paper investigates whether or not gold provides a perfect hedge against inflation and exchange rate in Ghana relying on data spanning 1990-2012. In addition to applying a unit root testing approach robust for finite samples, we employed the Johansen multivariate cointegration test procedure and vector error correction model (VECM). Our findings suggest that for long-term investors, gold could provide an imperfect hedge against inflation and exchange rate. The latter effect is however minuscule. On the contrary, gold does not provide any hedge if held for only a short-term. Irrespective of the time horizon, economic growth negatively affects gold prices suggesting that people diversify their portfolios when incomes increase. The study also discusses some policy implications.

Keywords: inflation; exchange rates; economic growth; Ghana; hedging; gold investment; economic growth; gold prices.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2015.070981

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2015 Vol.10 No.2, pp.148 - 166

Received: 04 Dec 2014
Accepted: 06 Mar 2015
Published online: 04 Aug 2015 *

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