Former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has attributed Ghana’s economic stability to initiatives undertaken by the previous government before exiting office.
He says Ghana’s economy wouldn’t have recorded its current resilience without the Gold-for-Oil policy he introduced.
Bawumia adds that the government wouldn’t have accessed US$5 billion to support the economy without the policies he introduced as Vice President.
Speaking during his ‘Thank You’ tour in the UK at an interaction with the Young Executive Forum (YEF) in London, he explained that the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) Gold Purchase and Gold-for-Oil programmes were strategic because they didn’t require foreign exchange.
“If we had not instituted the gold purchase program as well as the gold-for-oil program, our economy would have collapsed. It would have, because where would we have gotten $5 billion just to support the economy? You wouldn’t have gotten it,” he stated.
He further explained that “why I went for gold is that you don’t need to export to get gold. You need to export cocoa to get foreign exchange, timber, oil — you need to turn it abroad. But as for gold, you just need to dig it or pay for it with cedis. So it was a much easier way to do it.”
He disclosed that the Bank of Ghana was able to purchase US$5 billion worth of gold in just two years, whilst the nation went to the IMF for a bailout of US$3 billion. This, he said, wouldn’t have been possible if not for the initiative he introduced, as novel as the Gold-for-Oil and gold purchase programmes.
“Remember, we were going to the IMF just for $3 billion and going through all sorts of hoops. But in two years, we had bought $5 billion,” he said.
He chastised the NDC administration for not adding a single ton of gold to Ghana’s reserve since assuming office five months ago, maintaining that it is the NPP’s efforts that has kept Ghana where it is today.
“They have been in office so far, they’ve not even increased it by one ton, not a single one ton. People, after all the noise of the election, are paying attention to our reserves. That is one thing, which we have built to 30 tons.”
According to him, when the NPP started, Ghana had just 8.7 tons of gold reserves, a figure that stayed constant for 65 years after independence. “In just two years, we went to 30,” he said. “That is a big backing for the currency.”
Cedi depreciation would have been worse if not for ‘Gold for Oil’ policy – Joe Jackson
