Dr. Riverson Oppong, the Chief Executive of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (CoMAC), has urged the government to conduct a thorough review of the Gold for Oil policy.
His call comes after Energy and Green Transition Minister John Jinapor suggested reassessing the policy.
Dr. Oppong pointed out that the policy has not met its objectives, creating a false sense of energy security and failing to stabilize fuel prices for consumers. He emphasized that the review should explore alternative strategies to ensure a more consistent and dependable fuel supply.
“While trading gold can reduce forex demand and stabilize the cedi to some extent, it has not directly translate into lower fuel prices. Fuel costs are influenced by multiple factors, including global supply and demand dynamics, which we all know, global risk to geopolitical issues, and refining expenditure. There’s a potential for mismanaging Ghana’s good resources. “
“And that will pose a very huge risk. There’s also a high potential for full supply fluctuations where businesses cannot plan against the good for oil supply, and I wouldn’t want the government to also put more emphasis on just the supply of good for your products against what the private business enterprises are also doing.”
“We need to look at this very holistically. Do we really need it? It’s a very big question for us all to answer.”
