ADVERTISEMENT

G4Oil cause of petrol shortage at GOIL - COPEC alleges

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has alleged that the current shortage of fuel at some GOIL fuel stations could be blamed on the mode of implementation of the Gold for Oil Policy.

Fuel shortage hit some GOIL stations across the country.

According to the Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah the government’s Gold for Oil Policy has disrupted the market and may be the cause of the shortage.

If you are asking cash for Gold for Oil products when the other traders could simply bring them products on credit, you will simply lead to market disruptions.

“I will not be surprised to see that at some point we will abandon the programme altogether because it probably might not be bad if you look at the premise of it trying to save the forex situation but as to whether the module where you bring in so much documentation before you are able to buy the products before that you need to make available ready cash, the market does not operate like that,” Mr. Amoah opined in an interview with Citi News on Tuesday, April 11.

Meanwhile, checks at some GOIL fuel stations in the capital and other parts of the country show that there has been a shortage of fuel, especially petrol.

ADVERTISEMENT

The New Patriotic Party's Gold for Oil programme prime objective is to use additional foreign exchange resources from the Bank of Ghana's Domestic Gold Purchase(DGP) programme to provide foreign currency for the importation of petroleum products for the country which currently stands at about US$350 million per month.

The move, announced by the Vice President in the midst of the depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar and the rising cost of fuel prices, was also explained as an intervention to help stabilise prices of fuel products, as well as reduce pressure on Ghana’s foreign exchange, as the direct gold barter would be the mode of paying for imported oil instead of depleting the foreign exchange reserve.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT