The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Johnson Asiama, has defended the suspension of Ghana’s Gold-for-Oil programme, pointing to operational challenges and the need to improve policy efficiency.
The suspension, announced in March 2025, marked a significant shift in the country’s economic strategy. The programme, introduced by the previous government, was intended to reduce reliance on foreign exchange for fuel imports and help stabilise domestic fuel prices.
Speaking before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Monday, Dr. Asiama said the suspension has already produced positive outcomes.
“The first reference is to observe that since we cancelled the Gold-for-Oil in March 2025, we have not seen a build-up of queues at the pumps. One of the objectives of the policy was for that. So we believe that the cancellation was worth it,” he said.
He added that operational challenges prompted the Bank of Ghana board to authorise an external audit of the programme.
“There were too many issues under the Gold-for-Oil that we needed to unearth. Therefore, the board authorised an external audit into the policy. We got a PPA approval for the audit two months ago. That exercise is underway,” Dr. Asiama explained.
The BoG Governor clarified that the suspension was not intended to terminate the initiative entirely, but to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.
“The objective of Gold-for-Reserves, as the name suggests, is for us to increase reserves. Based on the data available, so far, the evidence is clear that it is not a case of shutting it down, but a question of enhancing its efficiency, looking at inefficiencies that we have to take out. That is why we went after GoldBod,” he said.
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