The Member of Parliament for Tano North and Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Gideon Boako, has questioned the rationale behind the government’s decision to introduce the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy (GANRAP).
He argues that it is simply a rebranded version of a policy initiated by the former Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia.
His remarks followed the presentation of the new policy to Parliament on Wednesday by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.
Dr Forson described GANRAP as a strategic departure from what he called the “unsustainable” practice of borrowing to build foreign reserves, explaining that the government would instead rely on Ghana’s gold resources to strengthen its gross international reserves and achieve a target of 15 months of import cover by the end of 2028.
Under the policy, government intends to add an average of US$9.5 billion annually to gross international reserves through the purchase of approximately 3.02 tonnes of gold per week.
This will be undertaken by the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD), which is expected to procure gold from the small-scale mining sector, alongside the invocation of a state pre-emptive right to acquire 20 per cent of output from large-scale mining firms.
However, contributing after the Minister’s statement, Dr Boako maintained that the initiative mirrors the Gold for Reserves (G4R) programme introduced under Dr Bawumia.
“Gold 4 Reserves (G4R) rebranded as the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Policy (GANRAP),” he said.
He further questioned why a policy previously criticised by the current administration was now being repackaged and presented as a fresh intervention, insisting that government should acknowledge continuity rather than “rename and claim it is new.”