The Institute for Energy Security (IES) is concerned that the government will not have an immediate solution to increasing fuel prices at the pump.
Since April 2021, prices have been steadily rising, prompting Ghanaians to complain about hardships.
At the moment, a liter of fuel or diesel costs GH6.80 at the various filling stations. As a consequence, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the administration of being insensitive.
Following that, the government pledged to remove the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levies (PRSL) component of fuel prices for just two months.
However, the IES’s Executive Director, Nana Amoasi VII, is concerned that the government’s approach is hasty.
“If care is not taken, we will see this price surging on the market consistently. You will ask how the government will negotiate to solve the situation, but unfortunately, where the government sits today, it will be able to reduce these taxes by more than 10 percent, and the approach the government has taken, we call it knee-jerk because it is not sustainable.”
“There are other things the government must do to ensure that fuel prices remain stable. You can take away all the taxes, but trust me because we have mechanisms that have broken down, we will still come to the same GH¢6.80 per liter in less than six months because we have become price takers”, he emphasized.
According to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), President Akufo-Addo has authorized the abolition of the PRSL on petrol, diesel, and LPG for two months.
It stated that the approval came as a result of its recommendation to the Energy Minister to intervene on behalf of the government to minimize the effect of increasing petroleum prices on the global market on customers.
However, even as the second pricing window begins, the much-anticipated suspension of the levy on the price build-up of fuel at the pumps has yet to take effect since Parliament has failed to provide the NPA the necessary authority to abolish the levy.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) believes the Nana Akufo-Addo administration is unconcerned about the suffering of Ghanaians in the wake of an increase in petroleum product prices.
During a media engagement, Sammy Gyamfi, the party’s Communications Officer, blamed the current difficulties on “callousness and insensitivity on the part of the NPP government.”
He said the increases were the result of the introduction of a raft of taxes targeted at shoring up the government’s finances and the depreciation in the value of the cedi.
Mr. Gyamfi noted that the increases in fuel prices mirrored increases in the pricing of many market goods, and he questioned what had become of the NPP’s pledge to shift from taxes to production.
He said the economy was in shambles despite the “availability of an unprecedented inflow of resources” and charged the government to “sit up and stabilize the Ghana cedi through prudent economic management to stabilize fuel prices”.
“Permit me to state from the word go, that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-NPP government has shown itself to be callous and does not appear a give a hoot about the plight of Ghanaians. Otherwise, what can be the justification for the rampant and persistent increases in fuel prices we are witnessing in Ghana today?”
As a result, the NDC wants President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to quickly lower fuel prices in the nation.
The government, according to the party, could do this by eliminating some of the taxes placed on petroleum products.
