{"id":87883,"date":"2025-10-12T18:03:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T18:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals"},"modified":"2025-10-12T18:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T18:30:20","slug":"finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals","title":{"rendered":"Finance Minister Clarifies Russian Oil and Win-Win Rice Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Finance Minister Seedy Keita has defended the government\u2019s handling of the controversial Russian oil and Win-Win rice import transactions, insisting that both deals followed due process and did not expose public funds to any financial risk.<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking at a joint press conference with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the Ministry of Agriculture in Banjul, Minister Keita responded to a flurry of media questions following the successful conclusion of the IMF\u2019s Fourth Review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the First Review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).<\/p>\n

Keita began by expressing appreciation to the IMF team and Gambian institutions, including the Central Bank and Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), for what he described as \u201cburning the midnight candles\u201d to ensure a successful review. The IMF confirmed that both programs remain on track, citing a strengthening economy and lowering inflation despite fiscal pressures.<\/p>\n

On the Russian oil deal, Keita dismissed claims that the government failed to collect taxes, clarifying that \u201call oil transaction taxes related to sales are paid at the pump price.\u201d He explained that the companies involved were international traders not domiciled in The Gambia, and therefore not liable for local corporate taxation.<\/p>\n

Turning to the Win-Win rice deal, the minister described the arrangement as a \u201cpilot initiative\u201d designed to empower Gambian traders in the commodities market. He stressed that \u201cno public funds were used\u201d and that the financing was structured through a letter of credit facilitated by Mega Bank. \u201cIt was the bank, not the ministry, that conducted due diligence,\u201d Keita said, adding that government merely provided policy support to enable the importation.<\/p>\n

Keita maintained that the objective was to stabilize rice prices and promote local participation in importation. \u201cIf the transaction had succeeded, it would have brought a bag of rice to D1,000 and empowered Gambian businesses,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Finance Minister Seedy Keita has defended the government\u2019s handling of the controversial Russian oil and Win-Win rice import transactions, insisting that both deals followed due process and did not expose public funds to any financial risk. Speaking at a joint press conference with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the Ministry of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":87882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-87883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nFinance Minister Clarifies Russian Oil and Win-Win Rice Deals - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Finance Minister Seedy Keita has defended the government\u2019s handling of the controversial Russian oil and Win-Win rice ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finance Minister Clarifies Russian Oil and Win-Win Rice Deals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finance Minister Seedy Keita has defended the government\u2019s handling of the controversial Russian oil and Win-Win rice ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-12T18:03:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-12T18:30:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/sm_1760281178.426384.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Finance Minister Clarifies Russian Oil and Win-Win Rice Deals\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-12T18:03:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-12T18:30:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/sm_1760281178.426384.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/finance-minister-clarifies-russian-oil-and-win-win-rice-deals\",\"name\":\"Finance Minister Clarifies Russian Oil and Win-Win Rice Deals - 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