Kufuor Under Pressure - Gov't Losing Billion A Month

Intelligence information reaching the Searchlight indicates that President John Agyekum and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government are under pressure from the World Bank and other multilateral agencies to increase the price of fuel on the local market.

This follows the consistently rising prices of crude on the international market. A source close to the national Petroleum Tender Board has revealed to the Searchlight that currently the Board is considering raising the price of petrol and other fuel products on the market. This is in the face of stiff opposition from leading NPP figures and industry experts, who fear that any increase in fuel prices would lead to adverse consequences for the NPP government and the economy in general, as well as leading to an attack on the industrial front.

The World Bank and other multilateral agencies, are pushing for the increase in petroleum prices to avoid the holes that developed in the country under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when the Tema Oil Refinery and the Ghana Commercial Bank were forced to go into hoc to the tune of trillion of cedis.

As at press time, the time of crude on the international market was pegged at $36.94 a barrel. It follows a consistent pattern since June lat year, when price of crude shot up above he $30 a barrel mark.

Meanwhile credible information available to the media indicates that the shortfall in the fuel sector could be as much as C72 Billion a month. A similar situation under the NDC congress government led to the accumulation of debt to the Tema Oil Refinery, ultimately picked by Ghana Commercial Bank, to the tune of trillions of cedis, a situation the Kufuor led NPP government would like to avoid.

Indeed when the NPP administration took over the reins of government it promised to firmly avoid populist decisions like subsidizing the price of crude that could leave uncomfortable holes in the economy.