Summon Finance Minister, BoG Governor Over Contradictory Gold for Oil Reports – IERPP Urges Parliament
The Institute for Economic Research, Policy, and Practice (IERPP) has called on the Parliament of Ghana to urgently summon the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to clarify what it describes as “conflicting and contradictory” official statements surrounding the country’s Gold for Oil programme.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the policy think tank said the inconsistencies in the accounts provided by the two top economic managers risk eroding public confidence in the initiative, which was introduced to stabilize fuel prices, reduce forex pressure, and conserve foreign exchange reserves.
According to the IERPP, recent briefings from the Ministry of Finance suggested that the programme had significantly reduced the country’s dollar demand for oil imports, while a separate report from the Bank of Ghana appeared to downplay its fiscal and economic impact. These discrepancies, the group argues, raise serious questions about transparency, coordination, and the actual performance of the scheme.
The Gold for Oil programme, launched in late 2022, involves using gold reserves to purchase petroleum products directly from international suppliers, bypassing the need for U.S. dollars in transactions. While government officials have touted it as a groundbreaking economic strategy, critics have long questioned its sustainability, governance framework, and reporting mechanisms.
IERPP insists that Parliament must play its oversight role by compelling both the Finance Minister and the BoG Governor to appear before the House to reconcile their statements, present verifiable data, and explain the actual cost-benefit outcomes of the programme to date.
“The public deserves clarity, not mixed signals, on a matter as critical as the Gold for Oil initiative,” the statement emphasized, warning that any perception of mismanagement could undermine both domestic and international confidence in Ghana’s economic policies.
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