Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has said the government’s innovative policy of purchasing oil with gold known as Gold-for-Oil policy has helped stabilised the exchanged rate as it predicted.

According to Dr Bawumia, the gold-for-oil policy is the most important macroeconomic policy intervention to deal with the exchange rate depreciation, fuel prices, food prices, and inflation nexus that the country has had.

Speaking at the commissioning of the new head office of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), in Accra, Dr Bawumia said “I am happy to note that the Gold-for-Oil policy is the first policy of its kind in Ghana since independence to address this type of balance of payment crisis that we face. In my humble opinion, this is the most important macroeconomic policy intervention to deal with the exchange rate depreciation, fuel prices, food prices, and inflation nexus that we have had.”

“As a result of the policy, we have not only seen a decline in the price from 23 Cedis per liter to around 12 Cedis per liter, we have also seen stability in the exchange rate as we predicted. I say all thanks should go to the Ministry of Energy, to BOST, to NPA, the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the PMMC who rose up to the occasion when we faced those crises of rapidly depreciating currency along with rapidly increasing fuel, transportation, and food prices,” he added.

Last year, Dr. Bawumia announced a new government policy dubbed gold-for-oil. The policy, as explained by the government, is to allow the government to pay for imported oil products with gold, in a direct barter with gold purchased by the Central Bank.