Fuel Prices Will Go Up

President Kufuor told the nation without mincing words that fuel prices will definitely go up, and lamenting with a knowing twinkle in his eye that the previous Government failed to deal with the problem of petrol pricing on grounds of political expediency.

With the opposition NDC joining the NPP in a fair amount of cheerful bonhomie, Kufuor preferred the option of biting the bullet by tackling the problem head on by charging realistic prices for petroleum products.

He said that the other option would be to continue to add to the accumulated debt by deferring the payment of c160 billion a month cost of petroleum subsidy until the country grinds to a complete halt. JAK said that he will 'move towards full cost recovery and implement a plan to reduce the stock of the Tema Oil Refinery debt over time'.

The implication of this as previously explained by the Energy Minister Hon. Kan Dapaah is that prices of petroleum would go up. Hon Dapaah had hinted that for full cost recovery of fuel prices from the Tema Oil Refinery which has been under-recovering for years will mean a 300 per cent increase in fuel prices. The Minister of Energy had equivocated on directly pronouncing the level of increase and the timing but was categorical in saying that it would come.

Hon Dapaah said the NPP Government would increase when they are sure that mechanism to reduce the inevitable ripple effect on the Ghanaian was in place. Dapaah even revealed that the levy on petroleum set aside for the rainy day had been abused by the past Government to the point that not a cedi remains in the vault.