The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo says Ghana has already seen the successes in the Gold for Oil Policy considering the price of US dollars and petroleum products which have fallen since the announcement and implementation of the programme.
In November 2022, the government announced plans to buy oil products with gold rather than US dollars.
The Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said that the move was meant to tackle dwindling foreign currency reserves coupled with demand for dollars by oil importers, which was weakening the local cedi and increasing living costs.
“It will fundamentally change our balance of payments and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of our currency,” Dr. Bawumia said.
He also said that using gold would stop the exchange rate from having a direct effect on fuel or utility prices, since sellers in the United States would no longer need foreign currency to buy oil products from other countries.
In the middle of December 2022, the average price of petrol at the pump had risen to GH¢20 a litre, but currently, it is being sold at about GH¢13.80.
The price of diesel which had risen to more than GH¢23.70 a litre is now selling on the average at about GH¢13.80 a litre.
Read Also: Decrease in fuel prices: Gold-for-oil not a factor- COPEC
Delivering the State of the Nation’s Address in Parliament on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, President Akufo Addo said the policy was already bearing fruit.
“We have already seen some success on both fronts with the price of US dollars and petroleum products falling since we announced the policy and began to implement it,” he said.
He said, “The average price of petrol at the pump, which had risen to twenty (20) cedis a litre, in the middle of December 2022, is now thirteen cedis and eighty pesewas (GH¢13.80) a litre. The price of diesel had risen to more than twenty-three cedis and seventy pesewas (GH¢23.70) a litre and is now selling on the average at thirteen cedis and eighty pesewas (GH¢13.80) a litre, which is a reduction of almost ten cedis a litre.”
“We expect this trend of falling fuel prices to reflect soon in our daily lives, since transport fares affect the price of everything.I hope the trend of prices going up and coming down will become a regular feature of our retail economy as is being demonstrated in the fuel prices.
Because, as we all know, prices, especially of petroleum products, used to only go up in our country,” he added.
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