A leading Ghanaian economic institute has called for urgent parliamentary scrutiny after the finance minister and central bank governor gave sharply conflicting accounts of the country’s flagship Gold-for-Oil (G4O) scheme, News Ghana reports.

The scheme was launched in response to a spiralling foreign exchange crisis and surging fuel prices. In June, Ghana’s central bank announced that it had terminated the high-profile programme after suffering cumulative losses totalling GHS2.137bn (approximately $208mn) since its inception in January 2023.

This week, the Institute for Economic Research, Policy, and Practice (IERPP) urged lawmakers to summon Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson and Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Asiama to clarify whether the programme ever operated as intended.

The initiative was designed to cut demand for US dollars to import fuel during an economic crisis that saw Ghana’s currency plunge as foreign reserves dwindled and inflation surged.

The government and central bank sought to bypass the greenback altogether by purchasing fuel with domestically sourced gold. Under the scheme, BoG acquired gold from local miners - paying in cedis - through its domestic gold purchase programme, which had been operational since June 2021 in collaboration with the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), now rebranded as GoldBOD. The gold was then refined abroad and used to secure petroleum products from the international market.

On March 3, Asiama confirmed the G4O programme had been in operation before being suspended over “policy challenges”. His deputy said on August 11 that 27.63 tonnes of gold had been exchanged for 1.95mn metric tonnes of fuel, News Ghana reported.

But on July 25, Forson told reporters: “There was no barter - never, never,” insisting all transactions had been conducted in US dollars.

“The statements cannot both be true,” the IERPP said in a statement late on August 12. “Ghanaians deserve facts, not contradictory soundbites.”

The think tank said the dispute risked damaging the country’s credibility with investors and partners, calling on Parliament to force both officials to submit verified records.

Analysts cited by News Ghana say the unresolved contradiction raises broader questions about transparency and accountability in the management of Ghana’s economic crisis.

“The gold-for-oil scheme was meant to stabilise the cedi and reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves,” the IERPP added. “It is vital that the public know exactly what happened.”

While the concept faltered, the gold accumulation effort made significant gains. Ghana’s gold reserves ballooned from 8.74 tonnes in 2021 to over 32 tonnes by 2025—nearly a fourfold increase in less than four years, according to BoG data.