Reduce fuel prices now, or.......Wereko Brobby's UGM

Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA), while in opposition, cried aloud against fuel prices in the country, and stressed that high fuel prices translate into higher transportation prices, which translate into higher prices for food and other general goods.

Dr Wereko-Brobby, who was then a Presidential Candidate for the United Ghana Movement (UGM), also joined an opposition group to march through the streets of Accra to register their protest and support the call for the reduction of fuel prices.

Dr Wereko-Brobby is now in Government and his statement, issued on behalf of the Party (now on holidays) is being reproduced, unedited, now that the people side with his views. The following is the call, which is considered to be more meaningful today than it was yesterday.

"Fuel prices in Ghana must be reduced immediately in line with recent substantial drop in the international price of never implemented policy of allowing the prices of petroleum products to change with changes in international crude oil prices.

"Since the recent increases in fuel prices, and following the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase production, the price of crude oil has tumbled from a mid-February peak of US$21.30 on Monday, April 10, 2000. This more than a 33 per cent drop in price, which is significant and substantial enough for the Government to act on its recent public statement to reduce local prices if international prices should fall on the wake of the OPEC decision.

"THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. The issue of the impact of the falling rate of the cedi on fuel prices is moot. The method used for pricing petroleum products already takes account of future movements in the cedi's exchange rate and there is no doubt that this was done in the recent price changes.

"On the contrary, there is evidence that increases in fuel prices put additional pressures one the value of the cedi. Higher fuel prices translate into higher transportation prices, which translate into higher prices for food and other general goods. The resulting rise in inflation puts additional pressures on the stability of our economy, which in turn is reflected in the wobbling cedi.

"Ghana's prospects for achieving real and sustainable growth of our economy, and thus reversing the cyclic negative impacts of the export of primary raw materials, lies with adding value through the efforts of a vibrant and competitive indigenous manufacturing and industries are currently under immense pressure. The combined effects to the 1998 power crisis and spiraling fuel prices have shrunk and in some cases even killed off many of our industrial companies. Already, a number of high energy intensive companies have gone down. Others have had to shrink their business and even substitute imports of key inputs for local manufacture in order to keep their electricity and oil costs under check".