The Centre for Democracy and Socio-economic Development (CDS) Africa have raised some concerns about the Gold-for-oil program by the government.
The Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, in November 2022 unveiled the Gold-for-Oil policy. Per this policy, the country will be able to buy oil products with our gold rather than the US dollars.
CDS Africa in a press statement acknowledged that this initiative by the government will help reduce the rate at which the Ghana cedi depreciates against the US dollar which in turn help to restore macroeconomic stability.
However, CDS Africa has raised some issues in regards to the sourcing of the gold required to carry out this initiative. Under the arrangement, the gold will be obtained through the Precious Minerals and Marketing Company (PMMC). PMMC will be the assayer of the gold according to the Bank of Ghana.
“Does the Gold aggregator and mining agencies have the capacity to supply the gold needed for this initiative,” CDS Africa quizzed in the statement. According to CDS Africa, Ghana imports $350 million of oil which sums up to $4.2 billion every year. Although the Governor of the Bank of Ghana commended the country for being the largest producer of gold in Africa, the gold reserves of Ghana still remain at 8.77 tons.
The statement indicated that there must be an explicit policy statement about the sourcing of the gold for the initiative to avoid illegal mining operations in Ghana. CDS Africa trust that in order for this policy to be successful, the government must provide a clear policy implementation guideline.
They urged the government and the Bank of Ghana to put measures in place to ensure that the gold needed for the implementation of this initiative is obtained from legal mining agents and agencies in the country.
Source: 1familyradio
