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Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

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281–290 of 407 posts

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at the actual numbers, you'll find that USD dominance is still unchallenged. BUT, there is definitely way more chatter about alternative payment options, including from well-placed government sources and central banks in important non-west allied countries. It's now a matter of "when", not "if" when an alternative currency pops up, maybe a BRICS currency.

I believe the war in Ukraine has permanently damaged the USD's dominance in the medium to long term. The use of a supposedly neutral financial network (SWIFT) as a sanction weapon will make other nations who aren't on good terms with the U.S. and the West (and not just the "usual suspects" but many nations in Africa and South America too) seeking alternatives. As previously mentioned, Bitcoin is a viable alternative.…

Why would countries that don't plan to commit genocide need to be bothered by SWIFT cutting off countries that commit genocide? In fact, this is a good thing for countries that don't want to be genocided as it provides an additional incentive against genocide.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#282

This has nothing to do with USD dominance as many are suggesting. Ghana is running out of USD reserves and has to resort to buying with gold. Nothing suggests they wouldn’t use USD if they had it.

Gold is real, it exists. The USD is a figment of imagination.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh yes, small changes never preclude larger shifts in large geopolitical entities. But also if anyone tells you they know the future, they're probably trying to sell you something. If I were in charge of Ghana's finances, I'd be pretty cautious of standing in front of any windows for the next few years.

Brexit was supposed to be the end of the EU.

>Brexit was supposed to be the end of the EU.

I always considered Brexit to be the end of the UK's involvement in the EU? Your source(s)?

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't help that the US seems set on destroying the world's confidence in the US dollar Over the last 15 years, USD has increased in value against the Ghanaian Cedi by almost 16x. If we're trying to destroy confidence in USD, then Ghana sure makes it seem like we're doing an awful job. https://www.google.com/search?q=1+USD+to+GHS&oq=1+USD+to+GHS

You're correct that the Cedi has lost value compared with the US dollar while existing in a world where USD is one side if nearly every international business transaction. However, look at the US dollar over longer durations against wheat [1], copper [2], gold[3], or Bitcoin [4]: the dollar buys significantly less than 10, 15, 40, or 100 years ago. While the Cedi may be much weaker against the dollar, the dollar is l…

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Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has everything to do with USD dominance. Ghana is shouting out loud I can’t get my hands on USD. They’re echoing what the global market in general has been pricing. Now true, having your product be a hot commodity everybody wants is good for business but there’s only so much of that before your competitor starts offering a more readily available product. Pepper that with some morally objectionable stances the US h…

> Ghana is shouting out loud I can’t get my hands on USD. If you have gold but can’t get your hands on USD then something is very wrong, but I doubt that is the case.

because it's not the case at all. de-dollarization is picking up rapidly across most neutral/anti-US countries and this is the start of it. China is trading with Russia in yuan and even India has allowed small players to bypass USD and trade in INR directly https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-allows-internation...

Something I have been shouting hoarse is that this war in Ukraine is going to have multi-generational effect on world order with USD coming under US pressure.

If Saudi drops USD, which now seems extremely unlikely, then it's truly a descent for the US empire.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has everything to do with USD dominance. Countries have resources thus commodities. Commodities have value. Real value. Trade in local currencies can be backed by these commodities. Necessity will force countries to find USD alternatives.

Add to this that the US Federal government has conducted numerous hot wars to protect USD dominance. Remember when Saddam Hussain and then Kadafi in Libya each started selling dollars for euros? War. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/petrodollar-deep-dive-wi... But now the US is even destroying confidence in the dollar, through its confiscation of the Afgan central bank reserves (which included private citizens' de…

You are being heavily downvoted and you are closer to truth than anyone else. The afghan and russia fiasco has proven that USD floor can be yanked at anytime and most countries are desperate to get out of USD trades.

If BRICS launches their own basket of currency that will be the first major salvo at USD.

The further a society drifts from truth, the more they will hate those who speak it.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#288

It is really interesting that the folks running the show in the USA are able to export a lot of the problems with the $ to the rest of the world. Caribbean nations know this first hand, and have given in to the peg. I worked in oil, and now work in an industry where I sell parts worldwide. I'm not a trained economist, but deal with currency and transfer pricing with labor and goods. Couple things: what a lot of peopl…

Ghana? They may be seeing a three letter agency from the USA very soon This is sad precisely because it's so true. I wish poor countries were free to make trades on terms that were more fair. But that's not the world we live in. In any case, I applaud Ghana for trying. I really do wish them luck, but I'd advise them to ready their internal security services. (I suspect there will be a lot of unrest there in the very…

Most likely their current president will be ousted and a new puppet sympathetic to US will be installed like what happened to pakistan.

Remind me in 60 days!

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#289
> Ghana produces crude oil, but it has relied on imports for refined oil products since its only refinery shut down after an explosion in 2017

This seems like the core of the story. Nearly 6 years after that incident, Ghana has been unable to repair the factory and refine it's own oil. My assumption is the tale behind that is tragic and timeless corruption.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're correct that the Cedi has lost value compared with the US dollar while existing in a world where USD is one side if nearly every international business transaction. However, look at the US dollar over longer durations against wheat [1], copper [2], gold[3], or Bitcoin [4]: the dollar buys significantly less than 10, 15, 40, or 100 years ago. While the Cedi may be much weaker against the dollar, the dollar is l…

Of course the dollar has devalued. That's the whole idea. It's supposed to. At a modest rate of 2% inflation, $1 should be worth 50 cents after 35 years. That's literally how currency works.

That's a policy choice, one which is non-obvious and requires serious justification. Why should people be incentivized to spend their money, morally? The mandatory inflation basically is saying, "spend your money or we'll spend it for you". How does this robbery encourage social mobility and the building of generational wealth, exactly? It's one thing to give handouts to people, and quite another to rob them. It's most harmful to the poor who generally have less leverage in ensuring that their wages keep up with inflation and they tend to need to spend a high fraction of their wages to live on, so eroding their savings is seriously destructive. The poor also can't as easily access investing advice and methods, to avoid the effects of inflation.
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