Gold for oil: I don't see how it will change our economy - PPP Chairman rebukes gov't

The Government of Ghana has received about 41,000 metric tonnes of petroleum products under its "Gold for Oil" initiative as part of measures to cushion the petroleum sector and also strengthen the cedi against major trading currencies.

The first consignment which is valued at about 40 million dollars was delivered by oil products tanker SCF YENISEI to the Tema Port and it is expected to be sold by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) to oil distributing companies, according to Graphic Online.

The government sees this as a good policy for restoring the economy but this policy doesn't sink well with Nana Ofori Owusu, the National Chairman of the Progressive People's Party (PPP).

Nana Ofori Owusu, reacting during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" discussion programme Monday morning, argued that the policy will deplete the country's gold reserve and reduce its value as well.

The PPP Chairman ridiculed the idea to exchange the country's gold for oil saying "we know the raw value of gold and the processed value of gold and we encourage that we add value to our exports. But we are not adding value, rather we want to exchange our gold for oil. So, when the price of gold comes down, we will exchange more gold for oil. Something is not adding up!"

He added; "The countries we look up to like the US are storing gold...which is the value behind their currency...but now Ghana is extracting gold but we don't see its significance" and asked "what gains will we get from the exchange of gold for oil?"

To him, he doesn't "see how it will change the structure of our economy".