In 2022, on the back of the Russian/Ukraine crisis, Ghana faced a severe economic crisis that forced us into an IMF programme. A key condition of that programme was for the Bank of Ghana to rebuild its foreign exchange reserves.

To achieve that, the Bank of Ghana’s direct monthly forex intervention was capped at $80 million, later scaled down to $60 million. This was far below the actual demand for dollars in the economy.

The NPP government stayed disciplined and complied with this cap. Because of that commitment, Ghana gradually built its reserves and by end-2024 had exceeded the IMF threshold.

Dr.Gideon Boako

That effort is what enabled the IMF to lift the cap in 2025. That is what is allowing the new NDC government to intervene heavily in the market today without restriction. If the NPP had not been disciplined in building those reserves, the NDC would not be able to do the kind of interventions they are doing now.

But even under the cap, Ghana still needed much more forex to pay for fuel, medicines, spare parts, food and beverages, and to allow companies to repatriate profits. We needed to think outside the box.

Dr. Bawumia’s solution was to use Ghana’s own gold through the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and Gold-for-Oil to boost reserves, pay for essential imports and reduce pressure on the limited dollars.

He did not waste the crisis. He found a solution to a problem that has haunted the cedi since the First Republic and under every government.

It is that solution the NDC is now using to stabilise the cedi, control inflation and bring interest rates down, and claiming credit for.

The NDC’s claim that the Bank of Ghana sold an average of $250 million per month in 2024 confuses total forex sales which includes auctions and other windows with direct market intervention. And more importantly, those larger forex flows and the rapidly increased FX for Reserves were made possible without going to the eurobond market to borrow, in large part by the gold-purchase arrangements introduced by Dr. Bawumia.