New Patriotic Party flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has clarified that his proposal to anchor the cedi with gold is intended to complement the foreign exchange (forex) sector rather than peg the cedi to the value of gold, as some media outlets have reported.
During his campaign in the Ablekuma West constituency, Dr. Bawumia explained that this policy aims to address the persistent shortage of forex, which has been a key factor in the cedi’s depreciation.
He emphasised that the strategy would help stabilise the cedi by leveraging the country’s gold reserves to support the forex market.
“Many of the news organisations are reporting internationally; they don’t seem to quite understand it. They think I am pegging the value of the cedi to gold, No! I am just saying that bring your cedis, we will buy the gold and give you your forex.
“It is that simple and not complicated. We are going to keep our cedis stable because we will have an anchor to that cedis and that is gold,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia insists that the gold for oil policy is meeting its mandate as the Bank of Ghana has so far bought $5 billion worth of gold.
Comparing this amount to the total IMF deal of $3 billion, Dr. Bawumia notes that Ghana would have been plunged into the situation of shortage of fuel due to the challenge of accessing forex.
By: Hanson Agyeman
