The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has predicted that prices of fuel at the pump will significantly reduce from March due to the gold for oil scheme introduced by the government.
The gold for oil policy is expected to change Ghana’s balance of payments position fundamentally and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of the cedi.
Speaking in an interview with Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Showon Monday (6 February), the head of communication at the NPA, Abdul Kudus Mohammed said already the programme is having positive impact on prices at the pump.
“We are hoping that the supply of consignment under the programme will gradually increase as we go ahead, and our projection is that by March, we would have been having about 50% of the supply of both petrol and diesel in the market coming under the programme,” Mohammed said.
“And holding all other things constant, we are hoping to then see a bigger and a more serious impact of the whole programme from then,” he said. “But as indicated, the effect has already started trickling in and some OMCs have indicated it.”
In November 2022, the government announced plans to use gold to buy imported oil products.
“The demand for foreign exchange by oil importers in the face of dwindling foreign exchange reserves results in the depreciation of the cedi and increases in the cost of living with higher prices for fuel, transportation, utilities, etc.
“To address this challenge, the government is negotiating a new policy regime where our gold (rather than our US dollar reserves) will be used to buy oil products. The barter of sustainably mined gold for oil is one of the most important economic policy changes in Ghana since independence,” Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia wrote on Facebook.
