Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison says, government gold for oil policy will help reduce the pressure from the exchange rate from the private oil marketing firms.
Yesterday, Ghana took delivery of the first consignment of oil under the deal reached with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He said, this when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee.
Dr. Addison indicated that his outfit has enough gold reserved to support the operation.
“Also because central bank had already started the gold purchasing to boost our reserves, we already have gold reserves so the idea is to use that part of it to support the oil operation.
BOST will take over the oil and then between BOST and the DDCs, the oil will be distributed.
The whole idea is to obtain this oil at a lower price, then the prices at the pumps should reflect it. The first consignment has just come in yesterday or so, lets see how it works,” He said.
He attributed the depreciation of the local currency to the day-to-day pressures on the economy. He said although the cedi appreciated in the latter part of last year, there’s currently depreciating further against the dollar.
” it’s a flexible market , and it would reflect movement on a day to day basis. if there is additional demand for cedi, the currency would reflect it. The Central Bank cannot fix the exchange rate. It depends on what transactions have taken place that week. The exchange rate really reflects a lot of day to day pressures in the economy.” He added.
