Petrol Price Fraud

The Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) has proven that the government could have achieved full cost recovery by increasing the price of premium fuel from ?10,500 to ?12,358. The calculations done by the SFG based on Rotterdam prices and figures provided by the Energy Ministry show clearly that about ?7,641 of the new price is unaccounted for.

The calculations also support the claim by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the ex-pump price should have been increased by only 25 per cent to achieve full cost recovery.

The decision of the government to use an exchange rate of ?8,800 per dollar has also proven to be problematic. This is because the real exchange rate both at the Forex and Interbank rate is hovering between ?8,200 and ?8,600.

Financial experts say that just by the manipulation of the exchange rate, government is accumulating an extra revenue of at least ?300 per gallon. Interestingly, the government is threatening to increase the price of petroleum products again at the beginning of April. The Socialist Forum calls on the people of Ghana to protest against the new petroleum prices.