The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) has pushed back against claims that the previous government’s Gold-for-Oil (G4O) policy was a key driver in reducing fuel prices.
It argues that global market dynamics—not the initiative—led to the price drops.
Ghana introduced the G4O policy in December 2022, with the first consignment arriving in January 2023. The program was designed to stabilize fuel prices by purchasing petroleum products with gold.
However, COMAC contends that the policy accounted for just 10% of the country’s monthly fuel consumption at inception and peaked at only 30%.
COMAC maintains that ex-pump prices in Ghana had already begun falling before the first G4O shipment arrived.
Between November 2022 and June 2023, global crude oil prices dropped from $96.04 per barrel to $74.27, while petrol and diesel prices declined from $968.25 and $1,096.98 per metric ton to $828.70 and $691.41, respectively.
Petrol and diesel prices followed suit, falling from GHS 16.57 and GHS 23 per liter in November 2022 to GHS 11.90 and GHS 11.96 per liter by June 2023.
Given these trends, COMAC argues that the G4O policy had only a marginal effect on price stabilisation and that global supply and demand shifts were the primary forces behind the reductions.
The Chamber also refutes claims that the policy played a significant role in Ghana’s inflation rate dropping from 54% in 2022 to 23.5% in 2025.
It pointed out that with the policy’s limited impact on fuel prices and declining import volumes over time, linking G4O to the sharp decline in inflation is misleading.
