NPP calls for further reduction in fuel prices
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the government to further reduce the prices of petroleum products.
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It insists in a statement signed by its Communications Director, Nana Akomea, that Ghanaians should not be buying a gallon of petrol for more than GH¢10, but the government had maintained the price of a gallon at GH¢17 until the first week of January 2015.
“Regrettably, the recent revision has pegged the price at over GH¢13 per gallon, which in effect means Ghanaians are paying about 30 per cent more for every gallon of petrol they buy,” it said.
Debt owed BDCs
According to the statement the government’s explanation that Ghanaians should pay extra money to repay the debt of more than GH¢400 million it owed the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs) was untenable and that the government was in effect throwing overboard the formula for fuel price adjustments, which had been in place over the years.
“It had become a social pact between the government and the people and until now. We must not disregard the dangers that come along with throwing away the formula,” the statement said.
The statement explained that the debt owed the BDCs came about as a result of what it described as “so-called forex issues” and that those forex losses occurred because of the government’s poor fiscal and economic management which had seen the price of the dollar rise to over 150 per cent in just six years.
Cedi depreciation
It stated that in September 2014 alone, the cedi lost more than 40 per cent of its value before regaining about 12 per cent in the last three months of that year.
On that score, the statement said the forex losses which had caused the government’s debt to the BDCs were largely the result of the government’s failure in fiscal and economic management.
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The statement noted that the money owed the BDCs could ‘easily’ be settled by the $100 million “fraudulent” payments at the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA).
“It is very worrying that the NDC government is quick to tax poor, innocent Ghanaians. They are not so quick in retrieving taxpayers’ money fraudulently paid out by the same government,” it added.
The statement questioned how long Ghanaians would continue to suffer for the government’s “gross inefficiency and failure”.