Vice Chairman of Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has dismissed claims that the government’s Gold for Oil initiative never took place, describing such suggestions as mere propaganda.

According to him, data provided by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) confirms that approximately $1.7 billion worth of fuel cargo was financed under the programme.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, August 5, Mr Oppong-Nkrumah disclosed that the Economy and Development Committee had recently met with officials of the BoG to review half-year economic data.

“Ignore the propaganda that there was no Gold for Oil programme,” he wrote, citing figures from the central bank to back his position.

He further highlighted significant foreign exchange gains as a result of the Gold Purchase Programme, noting that gold prices had surged by 43% and cocoa by 90% between the first halves of 2024 and 2025.

These gains, he said, had bolstered Ghana’s forex reserves and supported the cedi.

“The Gold Purchase Programme has been a masterstroke,” he declared, adding that the BoG would soon begin hedging part of its gold reserves to enhance sustainability.

Commenting on liquidity management, Mr Oppong-Nkrumah noted that the BoG had sterilised some 60 billion cedis from the economy since January.

He urged the central bank to rechannel such funds into productive sectors like the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to spur growth and job creation.

He also acknowledged concerns about dollar shortages and revealed that the BoG was investigating the net positions and Nostro holdings of commercial banks to understand the apparent mismatch between available forex and market demand.