According to the vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, contrary to what certain influential trade agencies have claimed, Ghana is not opposed to using the US Dollar in international dealings.
This follows the government's statement that it will start utilizing gold instead of US dollars to purchase oil on the commodity market.
According to him, the order to utilize gold was given to shield the local currency from the effects of depreciation.
Dr. Bawumia advised industry participants to ignore such misinformation while speaking at the AGI Awards ceremony in Accra.
"The government has chosen to pursue a strategy of utilizing our gold to buy oil products in order to solve this basic dilemma that we all face of depreciation and its influence on fuel and electricity prices as well as food prices, among other things," Dr. Bawumia remarked.
It will profoundly alter our balance of payments and greatly lessen the ongoing depreciation of our currency, he continued, if we carry it out as planned.
This has led to the false impression that Ghana is opposed to using US dollars in international dealings. That is not the situation. Far from it, we are not trying to stop the usage of dollars in international trade. We actually want to include every single US dollar in our reserves. But we have a special problem with oil imports, and that's basically what we're going at with the pricing of fuel, food, transportation, and utilities," the Vice President said.
The use of US dollars in international transactions has been misconstrued as being something Ghana is opposed to. The contrary is true. Far from it, we are not on a campaign to stop people from using dollars in international trade. Actually, we want to include every US dollar in our reserves. However, we have a particular problem with oil imports, and that is exactly what we are focusing on when we talk about the prices of fuel, food, transportation, and utilities.