Any attempt at politicizing matters bordering on economics or better still introducing propaganda into it will always expose the propagandists. It is only a matter of time.
The First Deputy Governor of the Bank Of Ghana Dr. Zakari Mumuni might have hurt the ego of the Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson when he spoke about the stability of the Cedi and the factors responsible for the development.
While speaking during a function in the UK, he rightly attributed the positive performance of the Cedi to policies rolled out by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia without mentioning his name anyway. That could have perhaps cost him his job.
It is interesting that the Gold-For-Oil policy which the former Vice President championed has been rubbished by the Finance Minister as non-existent. According to him it never brought anything to the fiscal table of the state. This has been challenged by the First Deputy Governor subtly when he gave sufficient credit to policies embarked upon by the previous administration the dividends of which are what we are witnessing today in the form of a stable currency.
To think that a Finance Minister would because of political expedience rubbish the Gold-For-Oil intervention as non-existent is a testament to how low some politicians can go in their quest for scores.
The domestic gold policy has done for the country’s economy unquantified goodness whose dividends is our stable currency today a respectable professional has cleared the dusty air.
The over 100% increase within the past five years in the apex bank’s gold reserve is the outcome of a vision and sincere efforts to make a dream come true.
Somebody is responsible for the feat and deserves plaudits.
It is in order to contextualize the story of the domestic gold policy. But for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s steadfastness he would have long abandoned the concept. They castigated him with an assortment of insinuations… some even said it was a ruse to siphon funds from the state kitty.
Now that the dividends are being reaped shouldn’t it be in order for the mischief-makers to render remorse?
A turnaround in the country’s gold reserve which stood at 8.74 tonnes in June 2021 to its current remarkable state of over 32.99 tonnes sounds miraculous. But for this turnaround it could have only be imagined the turbulence that would have been witnessed in the foreign exchange market and the challenges of planning by players of the business community.
The diversification of the apex bank’s foreign exchange reserves portfolio which has enabled it to as he put it “leverage on the on the Bank’s gold holdings to raise cheaper short-term financing” is worth celebrating. For us the unlocking of the potential of the country’s commodity base is something which should not be ignored when the list of the dividends of the policy is being prepared.
This the First Deputy Governor laid without ambiguity. Governance being a continuum it is our wish that good policies initiated by previous governments will be continued by subsequent ones and credit given where this is due.
Buying gold in Ghana by the apex bank and paying for same in Cedis and not in Dollars the cornerstone of the Gold Purchasing Policy could not have been thought at a better time.
