He said the innovative mea­sures adopted by government to purchase crude oil without the dollar currency, had become the game changer of the cedi depreciation, and contributed significantly to the national economy.

 Mr Samuel A. Jinapor

Currently, he stated, that 800,000MT of gasoline and ga­soil, representing almost 30 per cent of the country’s total crude oil consumption, was purchased through the policy, adding that plans were underway to scale up the policy to cover 50 per cent of national consumption.

Contributing to the debate on the Budget Statement in Parlia­ment yesterday, Mr Jinapor, who is also the Member of Parlia­ment (MP) of Damongo, said, the introduction of the policy showed the leadership skills of the President and the Vice President, which was defined by the choices they make in times of adversity.

“In times of crisis, what is re­quired is leadership as it relates to choices, and the President and the Vice President made bold choices that have impacted our economy,” he stated.

According to the Minis­ter, until the Gold4Oil policy was introduced, the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) reserves were insignificant, but the implemen­tation of the policy alongside the Domestic Gold Purchase policy, had shored up the Bank’s reserves.

He noted that, the govern­ment, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources was working to scale up gold production to support the pro­gramme.

Speaking on the mining sec­tor’s contribution to the econ­omy, Mr Jinapor said the sector contributes almost nine per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with gold, alone, con­tributing some US$4.67 billion in exports as at August 2023, representing 43.4 per cent of total exports this year.

He said government is work­ing on new mines, including large scale mining companies in the northern part of the country, and the expansion of existing ones, to boost produc­tion. He added that government is working with the mining companies to contribute to development of mining areas, including the construction of an airport at Bolgatanga.

Mr Jinapor, also, touted the mining lease granted for the exploitation of lithium, which provides for value addition, increased royalties and local participation, saying it is one of the best in the world adding the government was investing in the exploration of other green minerals such as graphite, man­ganese and bauxite to support the green energy transition.

“These and several other measures being implemented by government will contribute to achieving the one trillion econ­omy targeted by government,” Mr Jinapor added.

It would be recalled that the government, in 2020, intro­duced the Gold4Oil programme to, among others, purchase oil with gold produced in the coun­try, and ease the pressure on the Ghana Cedi.

The policy required large scale mining companies to sell 20 per cent of their refined gold to the BoG, while small scale mining companies were required to sell all their gold to the bank.

In a related development, Mr Jinapor denied the allegation that UNESCO’s buildings were being sold, adding that UNES­CO was currently occupying the building.

He, also, clarified that the Clerk of Parliament’s official residence alleged to have been sold in 2019, was actually sold in 2015.

He cautioned against mak­ing sweeping statements about the sale of land without cross-checking from the Lands Commission.