COPEC livid after revelation that cash was used for 'gold for oil' purchase

The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has asked the government to be open about the real details of the gold-for-oil policy.

He added that the government must be clear on whether it is using public funds to purchase the fuel or not.

Before the country received the first consignment of 40,000 metric tonnes, many industry players had poked holes in the programme’s feasibility.

However, the deputy energy minister, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, revealed that the initial consignment was purchased with cash and not gold.

“I think after this revelation, the ministry of energy, ministry of finance, Bank of Ghana, government itself should come clean and tell Ghanaians that, look we are going to use your public funds to now go into the realm or arena of forex trading… We do think that whatever details or the nitty-gritty of the gold-for-oil policy should be communicated so that we all depart from this gold-for-oil mantra and deal with the reality of the issue,” he was quoted by citinewsroom.com.

He added that “they need to give details so that we can all interrogate the issue, and not hide behind we are going to buy forex for the local market…only for it to turn out to be a fiasco, a lie, then I think that they have not treated all of us fairly. The gold-for-oil policy seems dead on arrival because the cargo that was delivered seemed not to have had any impact on pump prices. I think they should halt or end this dangerous expedition and go back to fixing the cedi.”

Even though the first consignment was received in January, fuel prices have increased twice in 2023.

Duncan Amoah, has thereby, questioned the Bank of Ghana’s failure to auction dollars to the Bulk oil distribution companies since the policy is to help deal with the cedi’s depreciation.

“If you tell us gold-for-oil is a shield for forex so that the BDCs’ demand for forex and the pressure it puts on the cedi goes down, and it ends up that we rather took the dollar, real cash from here to now go and import, shouldn’t you have auctioned the dollars to the private firms to reduce the pressure that the BDCs are facing as opposing to this dangerous transaction?” Mr. Amoah questioned.

SSD/DA