Gold for oil policy is “murky”, says Wereko-Brobbey
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on the Big Bulletin on Monday (6 February), Wereko-Brobbey said, "I really find this whole arrangement a little bit slippery"
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobbey, the former chief executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA) has described the government’s gold for oil policy as “murky”.
Wereko-Brobbey is questioning why the government allegedly used money to pay for the first consignment of 40,000-plus metric tonnes of petroleum products delivered by SCF YENISEI.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on the Big Bulletin on Monday (6 February), Wereko-Brobbey said, “I really find this whole arrangement a little bit slippery.”
“I think this whole arrangement is a smokescreen for Ghana trying to take advantage of the discount that Russia is offering on international oil products because of sanctions from the West,” Wereko-Brobbey, popularly known as Tarzan, said.
“Because Russia is unable to sell to the West, so it is offering its oil and products at 30% discount. So, I find the whole thing rather murky,” the former presidential candidate of the United Ghana Movement (UGM) in 2000 said.
Listen to Charles Wereko-Brobbey in the attached audio clip below:
Demand for forex
In November 2022, the government announced plans to use gold to buy imported oil products.
In an earlier Facebook post, the vice-president said, “The demand for foreign exchange by oil importers in the face of dwindling foreign exchange reserves results in the depreciation of the cedi and increases in the cost of living with higher prices for fuel, transportation, utilities, etc.”
“To address this challenge, the government is negotiating a new policy regime where our gold (rather than our US dollar reserves) will be used to buy oil products. The barter of sustainably mined gold for oil is one of the most important economic policy changes in Ghana since independence,” Mahamudu Bawumia added.
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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