Page 9 - AfrOil Week 03 2023

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

These measures will be implemented with the exports. The investments come within the
support of the state, Hakkar explained. framework of Sonatrach’s five-year investment
Sonatrach’s oil pipeline network extends over plan (2023-2027), estimated at $40bn. The
22,000 km. investment plan also includes preparing a port-
The plan was revealed on the 10th anni- folio of future natural gas projects. ™
versary of a terrorist attack that targeted the
Tiguentourine gas-processing facility in south-
ern Algeria. This incident resulted in the killing
of dozens of people, including foreigners.
Algerian Energy and Mines Minister
Mohamed Arkab previously praised the effec-
tive and decisive role of the military in protect-
ing public and private facilities and properties.
Last week, Sonatrach announced it would
invest more than $30bn in the exploration and
production of hydrocarbons over the next five
years, notably natural gas, in a bid to improve Sonatrach head Tewfik Hakkar (File Photo)

Bank of Ghana says its reserves are large

enough to sustain “gold for oil” scheme

GHANA GHANA’S central bank has given assurance The previous month, Ghana, Africa’s sec-
sthat it has enough gold reserves to sustain the ond-largest gold producer, ordered large mining
recently introduced “gold for oil” scheme aimed companies to sell 20% of the metal they refine
at strengthening the West African country’s to the nation’s central bank, as the government
local currency, the cedi. embarked on the barter plan.
The major gold- and cocoa-producing coun- The full details of the deal, including the vol-
try has received the first consignment of petro- ume of petroleum products that the debt-laden
leum products from the United Arab Emirates country can expect to receive, are yet to be made
(UAE) under the scheme. public. However, Vice-President Mahamudu
The 41,000 tonnes of petroleum products Bawumia has said the deal could help find
delivered over the weekend by SCF YENISEI, reverse the steady depreciation of the cedi.
according to state-owned Daily Graphic, will “The demand for foreign exchange by oil
be sold to bulk distributing companies (BDCs) importers in the face of dwindling foreign
around Ghana. exchange reserves results in the depreciation of
Appearing before a Parliamentary commit- the cedi and increases in the cost of living with
tee on January 16, Stephen Opata, the director higher prices for fuel, transportation, utilities,”
of financial markets at the Bank of Ghana, said he wrote on Facebook last December.
the bank was well prepared to meet the demand “To address this challenge, the government is
for 160,000 ounces of gold per month under the negotiating a new policy regime where our gold
deal. “As for the quantities, based on the produc- (rather than our US dollar reserves) will be used
tion numbers we saw last year, gold has picked to buy oil products. The barter of sustainably
up,” Opata was quoted as saying by My Joy. “We mined gold for oil is one of the most important
believe that we can buy enough gold to sustain economic policy changes in Ghana since inde-
the programme.” pendence,” he added.
He continued: “I must say that the numbers Ghana’s cedi ended 2022 as the second-weak-
we are currently looking at [are] about 160,000 est currency in Africa, with a year-to-date loss of
ounces per month, and that will represent about 38.86% to the US dollar, according to Bloomb-
50% to 60% of the consumption of the country. erg’s ranking of “Worst Spot Returns.”
According to what PMMC [Precious Minerals The currency had recorded a decline of more
Marketing Company] indicates, I think we have than 55% against the greenback since the start
volumes to support the programme.” of 2022, adding to the country’s soaring infla-
The government announced late in 2022 that tion, but rallied in the second and third week of
it would no longer use US dollar reserves to pur- December. The rally came following the pros-
chase petroleum products as part of measures pects of a $3bn bailout from the International
aimed at addressing the depreciation of the cedi, Monetary Fund (IMF), long anticipated and
which contributed to a spike in inflation, which finally announced on December 13, subject to
reached 54.1% in December. approval by the lender’s board. ™

Week 03 19•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9