The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has urged the government to look beyond temporary interventions to cushion consumers against rising fuel prices.
He warned that short-term relief measures alone cannot resolve Ghana’s persistent petroleum price challenges.
In an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News, COPEC Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, said the reported extension of the government’s GH¢2 per litre intervention on diesel is a welcome development, particularly for consumers who would otherwise have faced a sharp increase in pump prices.
However, Mr Amoah stressed that the relief comes at a cost to government and should therefore be accompanied by measures aimed at finding lasting solutions to fuel price pressures.
“Whilst government continues to mitigate the plight of the Ghanaian, we should also be thinking medium- to long-term solutions to these persistent increases in fuel prices,” he said on Monday, August 31.
He noted that the government appears to be pursuing some measures to address the problem, but said there are other areas where little or no action has been taken.
Mr Amoah therefore called for a broader approach to petroleum pricing that would reduce the vulnerability of consumers to sharp movements in international prices and other factors affecting the domestic pump price.
He said the objective should be to move beyond repeatedly providing temporary relief whenever fuel prices surge and instead implement sustainable measures that can protect consumers in the longer term.
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