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The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has encouraged the government to focus on strengthening the Cedi to secure a reduction in the cost of petroleum products.
In recent weeks, the price of petroleum products has plummeted, and the situation has gotten worse after the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy was reversed.
COPEC’s Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, blamed the price rises on a weaker currency and urged the government to devise a plan to strengthen the Cedi during an appearance on Citi FM and Citi TV’s The Big Issue.
“What we can do as a country at this point is really to strategise on your currency and do whatever magic that had been done because before August 2022, prices of petroleum products did hike and at a point, diesel and petrol were crossing GH¢21 and for some reasons, we were able to cool those two off.
“The Cedi had also depreciated to almost GH¢17 exchange to a Dollar and the Bank of Ghana for whatever magic, was able to reverse the depreciation back to GH¢12 and so if you have any of those things down your sleeve, there could be no better time to apply that kind of a solution than at this point when prices are simply going up daily.
“At this point, taxes cannot be taken, give or take, we cannot influence Israel on Iran, we cannot influence Ukraine from bombing Russian refineries. What we can do at this point is to ensure that your Cedi is not doing too badly as we have seen in the past few weeks.
“Once that happens, you are simply hanging yourself in the face of global market price trends and throwing your hands in despair.”
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
