Kwame Asare Obeng, a contentious political activist better known by his stage name A Plus, has given his blessing to the Ghanaian government’s intention to utilize gold instead of US dollars to buy refined oil from the international market.
A Plus claims that the plan, which was mostly developed by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is “great” and deserving of praise.
Let’s have a conversation about: A Plus posted on Facebook:
Ghana has been the world’s top gold producer for more than a century, but we are constantly in desperate need of paper money (the dollar) to import petroleum products.
The oil for gold program, in my opinion, is a great idea. All the natural resources the west requires are found in Africa. As to why we trade
Kwame A Plus put the question up for discussion and whilst many followers agreed with his prognosis, others also called for Ghana to start refining its own crude by reestablishing the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
The Gold for Oil policy was first announced by Ghana’s Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in a post on Facebook on on November 24th, 2022.
Dr Bawumia said: “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, 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,”
The Vice President continued: “If we implement it as envisioned, it will fundamentally change our balance of payments and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of our currency with its associated increases in fuel, electricity, water, transport, and food prices. This is because the exchange rate (spot or forward) will no longer directly enter the formula for the determination of fuel or utility prices since all the domestic sellers of fuel will no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products.
“The barter of gold for oil represents a major structural change. My thanks to the Ministers for Lands and Natural Resources, Energy, and Finance, Precious Minerals Marketing Company, and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana for their supportive work on this new policy.
“We expect this new framework to be fully operational by the end of the first quarter of 2023. God bless our homeland Ghana.”