Ghana’s government is working on a new policy to buy oil products with gold rather than US dollar reserves, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has said on Facebook.
Using gold would prevent the exchange rate from directly impacting fuel or utility prices as domestic sellers would no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products, he explained.
“The barter of gold for oil represents a major structural change,” he added.
The proposed policy is uncommon. While countries sometimes trade oil for other goods or commodities, such deals typically involve an oil-producing nation receiving non-oil goods rather than the opposite.
Ghana produces crude oil, but it has relied on imports for refined oil products since its only refinery shut down after an explosion in 2017.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/ ... of-dollars
