Subsidies are key to mitigating petroleum price escalation – NPA

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has stated that the only way to mitigate the consistent rise in the prices of petroleum products is to introduce subsidies.

Abass Tasunti, Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), said on The Big Issue on Citi FM and Citi TV on Saturday, April 20, that it is important to investigate the factor(s) accounting for the price hikes, which he said are not peculiar to Ghana.

He also attributed the price hikes to the exchange rate differences, which he said contributed to the worsening prices.

“It is important to know what is accounting for the rise and the rise is not peculiar to Ghana. Even the US and Europe, they are also grappling with the same situation and every country is concerned. Countries that tend to import fuel using US Dollars tend to suffer more when their currencies are not that strong, so Ghana will have a double impact.

“The only way to keep the price from moving up is to subsidise but we are all aware that Ghana has stopped doing that since July 2015 because of its own challenges and so we are exposed to the volatility of the prices.

“The other key factor is the exchange rates because we buy these products using the US Dollar and the increases in the prices of our fuels are because of these two.”