Ghana Shelves Off Fuel Subsidy Create Special Fund For Refineries To Stabilise Energy Sector

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Featured, Latest Headlines, News Around Africa Wednesday, March 15th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Ghana National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has stated that the country has implemented regulatory measures, including the removal of fuel subsidies, to make sure of stability across its downstream sector.

Abdul Hamid, chief executive officer (CEO) of NPA, made this known in a presentation at the ongoing Africa Refiners and Distributors (ARDA) week 2023, in Cape Town, South Africa.

He stated that the measures were implemented in response to the global oil and gas market volatility caused by the Russian-Ukraine war and energy transition-related policies.

“For the first time in 30 years, we have installed fuel caps as a measure to intervene and to control market instability,” he said.

Hamid stated that this development has helped to restrict uncontrolled increases in fuel and energy prices at the peak of the global market instability since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started.

The NPA boss also talked about the ‘gold-for-oil’ program, in which Ghana is leveraging its vast gold resources to buy petroleum from international markets.

“We exchange gold directly for petroleum products from international firms. We buy the gold directly from large and small mining firms and exchange it for petroleum. This has stabilized our industry and kept energy prices affordable,” he added.