Gold-for-Oil policy: BoG will print new money to buy the gold – Dr Kofi Amoah

A renowned economist and businessman, Dr. Kofi Amoah, has alleged that the government through the Bank of Ghana will print more money to finance its Gold-for-Oil policy.

In a tweet shared on Friday, February 3, 2023, Dr Amoah said that the government has no savings to purchase the gold for this policy and thus will resort to printing more money.

He said that the printing of money will fuel inflation which will further heighten the hardship ordinary Ghanaians are facing.

He added that the government should rescind the Gold-for-Oil policy immediately before it collapses the economy.

“The NPP has stepped into the Capitalistic Culture they’ve no clue of. Pls get out whilst you can b4 Ghana drowns completely.

“Govt n BOG have no money saved so they’ll print new money to buy the gold for the barter which will fuel inflation n Cedi depreciation,” parts of the tweet read.

The economist made these remarks while reacting to an article by GhanaWeb on the government's Gold-for-Oil policy.

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, in November 2022, announced the government’s plan to undertake the gold-for-oil initiative. The deal was hinged on buying oil products with Ghana’s gold instead of the US dollar.

Dr Bawumia, in a post shared on Facebook, explained that the usage of gold to purchase oil would address Ghana’s dwindling foreign reserves as well as reduce demand for US dollars by oil importers.

“It will fundamentally change our balance of payments and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of our currency,” the vice president earlier wrote.

Under the policy, the government believes that using gold to purchase oil products would also bring stability to the exchange rate market and ensure domestic oil operators do not solely depend on foreign exchange to import products.

View the tweet below:

The NPP has stepped into the Capitalistic Culture they’ve no clue of

Pls get out whilst you can b4 Ghana drowns completely

Govt n BOG have no money saved so they’ll print new money to buy the gold for the barter which will fuel inflation n Cedi depreciation

PLS STOP IT… wae? pic.twitter.com/3SOOJBaurW

— CitizenKofi (@amoah_citizen) February 3, 2023