The prices of petrol in Ghana have been slashed by 17.17 p er cent with immediate effect, reducing ex-pump prices from 0.99 to 0.82 Ghanaia n cedis. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) said gas oil (diesel) would sell at 0.89 Ghanaian cedis from 1.04, premixed fuel for fishermen will now sell at 0.44 Ghan a ian cedis from 0.68 Ghanaian cedis while liquefied petroleum gas will now sell a t 0.65 Ghanaian cedis from 0.84 Ghanaian cedis.
Although the NPA says the new prices reflect the drop in the world market price of crude oil, the government’s opponents see the bug cut as a political move to w in votes in the run-off in presidential election due 28 December.
The Chief Executive Officer of NPA, John Attafuah, said he expected transport fa res to be reduced latest by Monday since the Ministry of Transportation and the G hana Road Transport Coordinating Council had been told of the price reductions. Attafuah explained that the huge slash was in response to complaints from transp ort owners that “the minimal reduction strategy that we had adopted was not enou g h to give them room to adjust their fares”.
The presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has persistently demanded reduction of taxes i n the fuel pricing formula and said he would look at the pricing formula and redu c e prices.
