Princess Avenyoh
Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson says the “Gold for Oil” policy never involved exchanging gold directly for petroleum products.
Speaking on Joy news he said the deal was actually a regular cash-for-oil trade, not the barter it was promoted as.
Dr. Forson stated that the Bank of Ghana paid suppliers in cash, not gold, contradicting previous government claims about the policy.
He added that someone in the UAE supplied oil, while local distributors paid in cedis, which the BoG then converted to dollars.
The Finance Minister explained that the central bank only increased gold reserves but never used gold to pay for oil imports.
He stressed that there was no instance where gold was exchanged for oil, calling the widely publicised policy a “pure trade transaction.”
Dr. Forson clarified that the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) gold reserve programme was separate and should not be confused with the Gold for Oil deal.
He said BoG was simply accumulating gold as reserves not exporting it to buy oil or support foreign exchange directly.
While some argued the policy may have helped stabilise the cedi indirectly, the minister insisted no real barter ever happened.
His revelations followed the presentation of the 2025 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review, aiming to ensure economic transparency and correct past narratives.