A former minister of Finance Seth Terkper has said he saw prices of fuel going up moments when the New Patriotic Party government abolished the strategic stock policy.
According to him, the policy was established by the previous administration to cushion the prices in times of shocks on the global market.
Prices of fuel have ballooned to GhC5 per litre at the pumps leading to incessant public backlash against the government.
Mr. Terkper in a tweet advised the government to revisit the policy to ameliorate the plight of Ghanaians.
I warned against dismantling @OfficialNDCGh government’s strategic stock measures and embedding the Price Stabilisation Levy (part of ESLA) in NPA’s pricing structure as subsidy. https://t.co/lxJA0ieznJ
— Seth Terkper (@SethTerkper) September 25, 2018
I saw high prices for petroleum products coming at the pumps when they dismantled our strategic stock policy in 2017
— Seth Terkper (@SethTerkper) September 25, 2018
Our Strategic Stock and Tank Farms policy enabled our @OfficialNDCGh government to avoid increasing petrol prices when crude oil prices started going up in 2016.
— Seth Terkper (@SethTerkper) September 25, 2018
Meanwhile, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to cut certain levies contributing to rampant increase in fuel prices.
“The TUC urges government to scrap some of the taxes on fuel prices to cushion Ghanaians. Also government must look into the various margins and their impact on fuel pricing. At current levels, fuel prices have reached an unsustainable peak for Ghanaian workers and their families. As workers, we can longer afford any further increase. Government must do everything it can to halt further increases,” the TUC said in a statement.
It added: “In its manifesto for election 2016, the NPP had promised Ghanaians a reduction in fuel prices. This was to be achieved through abolishing of some of the taxes in the petroleum price build-up and a competent management of the economy such that exchange rate losses will not translate into higher fuel prices.
“After more than 18 months in government, fuel prices have gone up by an average of more than 25 percent. Between January 2017 and now fuel prices have been adjusted upwards on 16 different occasions. This was not what Ghanaians were promised. In this same period, the minimum wage has gone by 20 per cent.
“The Base Pay on the Single Spine Salary Structure, from which most public sector workers are paid, has also increased by about 24 per cent. Given that fuel increases tend to have very noisy rippling effect on general price levels, the frequent upward adjustments as experienced in the last few months has considerably eroded incomes and worsened the plight of Ghanaian workers and their families.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
