Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES) Nana Amoasi VII, has asked Ghanaians to brace themselves for continuous fuel price hikes as government seem not to have solution to the hikes..
According to the institute, government seem to have no solution to the constant hikes and have only resorted to the ‘knee jerk’ approach to address the issue.
Currently, a litre of petrol and diesel is selling at GH¢6.80 at the various filling stations, causing an agitations among the transport operators who contemplating to increase fares.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the government of insensitivity as a result of the latest hike.
At a press conference on Monday October 18, 2021, National Communications Officer of the (NDC) Sammy Gymfi said “Ghanaians have once again been slapped with another increase in pump prices of fuel by the insensitive and clueless Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration. Only yesterday, the price of diesel and petrol was increased by 7%”.
However, the Energy Ministry in response on Tuesday October 19, 2021 refuted the claim by the NDC, saying the Ex-pump prices have not increased by 7% as purported by the NDC but rather 4.29% increase.
But the Executive Director of the IES, Nana Amoasi VII, believes that government have no idea how to tackle the problem.
He explained that “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.”
He insisted that government can take away all the taxes from the petroleum products, but the hikes will continue due to what he described as broken mechanisms.
“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 litre in less than six months because we have become price takers”.
He also not convinced that the zero rating on two levies by government on the petroleum products will cushion Ghanaians in any way, saying two months is nothing.
