Government must avoid Gold-for-Oil mistakes in gold transactions - COPEC

The Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, says the current government should have learned from the challenges associated with the previous government’s Gold-for-Oil programme and avoided similar losses.

According to him, the challenges and losses recorded under the programme should have provided valuable lessons for the government to improve the management of its gold and foreign exchange operations.

“From the benefit of hindsight, the current government should have done better, especially when you saw the injuries sustained by the Gold-for-Oil programme of the erstwhile government. You should have learned something,” he said.

Speaking on Channel One TV on August 22, 2026, the COPEC CEO said he expected the current government to move away from practices that contributed to the losses recorded under the programme.

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He identified differences between the Bank of Ghana’s exchange rate, the interbank rate and forex bureau rates as some of the major issues that needed to be addressed.

According to him, the use of different exchange rates makes it difficult to properly determine the cost of gold transactions and establish where the resulting losses should be recorded.

He noted that GoldBod could report a healthy financial position while losses associated with the transactions remained on the books of the Bank of Ghana.

“But losses sitting in the books of Bank of Ghana would indicate that some inefficiency somewhere occurred,” he said.

Amoah also cautioned against exposing the Bank of Ghana to trading activities that could create significant financial risks.

He explained that under the Gold-for-Oil programme, changes in international gold and oil prices could increase the amount of gold required to purchase the same quantity of oil.

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He therefore called for clearer rules on the exchange rates used in such transactions and greater transparency in how the costs and losses were accounted for.

Duncan Amoah said the ongoing debate should ultimately lead to reforms to prevent similar losses and improve accountability in the management of the country’s gold and foreign exchange operations.

“GoldBod must learn from the mistakes of Gold-for-Oil” — Duncan Amoah

Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, has urged government to apply lessons from the Gold-for-Oil programme in managing GoldBod’s operations.

He cautions that GoldBod must guard against similar… pic.twitter.com/ItYJUEsdzw

— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) August 22, 2026