Minister of Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor
The Minister of Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor, has asserted that the gold-for-oil programme launched by the Akufo-Addo government lacks transparency.
According to him, due to its opaqueness, the programme will be reviewed and discontinued for the betterment of the nation.
To support his claim while speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, he stated that the Auditor-General had flagged the gold-for-oil programme, and it was important for the government to examine it and replace it with another programme.
John Jinapor said, “There’s a high level of opacity, and the clarity is not there.”
“The Auditor General has flagged it. So it’s not just what we are saying. It is a fact. The reality is that we are reforming all of this because of the high level of opacity… If it were clear, transparent, and easily understood, you would not even need the reforms we are pursuing,” he added.
When asked whether the government would maintain the policy, he stated categorically, “No, we will replace it with a better programme. The current gold-for-oil programme we’ve inherited, we will discontinue.”
The gold-for-oil policy was a strategic programme launched by the Akufo-Addo government.
It aimed to utilize the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase (DGP) programme to support the importation of petroleum products into the country.
The initiative was designed to free up foreign exchange resources and reduce pressure on the central bank’s foreign reserves and the banking sector.
It also sought to procure petroleum products at competitive prices through Government-to-Government arrangements.
The BoG purchases all gold produced and exported by companies with licensed small-scale concessions, including community mines. This gold is then used to pay for oil supplies to Ghana, either through barter trade or via a broker channel.
SA/MA
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