Though Ghana has received the first consignment of oil from her trading partners in Dubai under the “Gold for Oil” initiative, the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, has indicated that the debate about whether or not the initiative should be temporary or permanent still exists.
While Dr Addison spoke about the many benefits the country stands to gain if it succeeds in the program, he also said government is not oblivious of the dangers it will pose to the country should it fail, hence the uncertainty about it being a temporal or permanent initiative.
He said it is too early to decide on it status, since it took effect last Sunday, and pleaded with Ghanaians to give them time to study it.
“…Some of us think that this is a temporary arrangement to deal with the crisis that we have, others think that it should be a permanent arrangement to deal with a permanent pressure on the currency. But it is too early to draw any conclusions,” he said.
Dr Addison made this known to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament sitting in Accra on Monday, this week, when he appeared before it to respond to some audit findings in the 2020 Auditor- Generals report.
Ghana has taken delivery of about 41,000 metric tonnes of the petroleum products, valued at about $43 million at the Tema Port.
Dr Addison indicated that should the initiative succeed, it will reduce the prices of oil at the pumps so that the final consumer will not spend much on fuel and transportation.
“I think this is the whole idea; if we obtain oil at lower prices, then the prices at the pumps should reflect.”
Should this happen, the government will be able to get oil at prices cheaper than what is sold to the private sector. It will also help to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange since the private sector’s quest to buy oil with foreign currency, especially the US dollar, is one of the factors that increases demand for foreign exchange.
Speaking on whether or not the country can supply the needed gold for the success of the initiative, Mr Stephen Opata, Director of Financial Market at the BoG noted that Ghana is the largest producer of gold in Africa and so it should be able to supply the quantity needed for the program to succeed.
However, Mr Opata pointed out that some of the gold that are transported to foreign countries are not done through approved channels. This makes it impossible to account for them.
Meanwhile, a Deputy Minister of Finance, Madam Abena Osei Asare assured PAC that audit of COVID-19 expenditure will soon be ready for Parliament to peruse.
“… Government has asked the Auditor-General and they have done audit on the whole of Covid-19 expenditure, which I believe very soon will be brought to Parliament so that it would set your heart at ease…I believe that when Parliament comes back this will be laid for all to see, ” she said.
She disclosed this when the Chairman of the Committee, Mr James KlutseAvedzi asked the Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, to prepare a separate account on Covid-19 for the purposes of Parliaments oversight responsibility.
Mr Klutse Avedzi pointed out that revised/mid-year review budget for 2020 captured GHS11.162bn as expenditure for Covid-19 and yet the Controller did not state how much of the money was spent on Covid-19 in its accounts.
He then questioned how Parliament can track the expenditure for Covid-19, especially when some GHS19bn was voted for it.
But the Deputy Minister intervened by disclosing to the Committee that the Auditor General was already working on it and will make the report available very soon.
