President John Mahama has directed the Ministers of Finance and Energy to adopt strategies aimed at protecting Ghana’s recent economic growth amid tensions in the Middle East.
His comments come after Israel launched a preemptive attack on Iran targeting its nuclear facilities. Iran has responded by unleashing several missiles into Israeli territory.
The president, who was speaking in the North-East Region on a Thank You tour, observed that the country was not “immune” from external shocks as a consequence of global events.
“Recent events in the Middle East which involves an exchange of missiles between Israel have started to escalate crude oil prices dramatically.
“I’ve asked our Minister of Finance [Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson] and Minister of Energy [John Jinapor] to keep a close eye on the development and model the possible impact on our petroleum prices and prepare measures to protect the recent gains that we have made,” the president stated.
Crude oil prices did surge on Friday after tensions spiked, prompting fears of energy supply disruptions from the Middle East.
Brent crude surged roughly 7%, settling around $74.23/barrel after an intraday jump of over 13% to about $78.50 while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed approximately 7.6–7.7%, closing around $72.98–$73.12/barrel.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Mitchell Asare Amoamah
