{"id":273305,"date":"2011-01-10T13:45:20","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T13:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=45882"},"modified":"2011-01-10T13:45:20","modified_gmt":"2011-01-10T13:45:20","slug":"theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/","title":{"rendered":"There&#8217;s No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Managing Editor of the <strong>Insight<\/strong> newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has hailed President John Evans Atta Mills  for not following the normal routine of giving Ghanaians the same  explanation whenever petroleum prices are increased, but going further  to explain the real issue on the ground during the \u201cAction Year\u201d Editors  Forum held at the Osu Castle.<br \/>\nTo him, the president\u2019s statement  that the increment was a revenue generating measure so that government  can carry out developmental projects and also better the lot of  Ghanaians, was an apt remark and one never made by any of his  apologists.<br \/>\nThe outspoken senior journalist, however, voiced his  objection to the recently announced 30% increment in petroleum prices,  emphatically stating that there is absolutely no subsidy on petroleum  products by government and the increment is just an \u201cAccounting Trick\u201d.<br \/>\n\u201cIndeed,  I think that the President was more sincere and honest than many of the  people who have supported the fuel price increase. But there is this  argument that gov\u2019t is subsidizing petrol and that it is important to  cut the subsidies, and that if gov\u2019t cuts the subsidies then some  resources will be freed for dev\u2019t and so on. I insist and I\u2019ve always  insisted over the last 26 years and I insist today that there is no  subsidy on petroleum. The claim that petroleum products are being  subsidized is an accounting trick\u2026and everybody knows this trick; so why  is it that every gov\u2019t is using the same trick?\u201d he queried.<br \/>\nThe  President, in response to a question on what he thought of calls from  critics who accuse him of reneging on his promise to drastically reduce  fuel prices when voted into power, said the recent price hikes were  necessitated by calls from people who needed social amenities to make  their lives a lot easier. President Mills said government could not  carry out developmental projects because there was no money since they  were paying the TOR debt and subsidizing the fuel prices..<br \/>\n\u201c<strong>My  brothers and sisters, increasing fuel prices is not an easy decision to  take but at some stage I had to take a decision\u2026 A choice between fuel  subsidies and using the money for social interventions to cushion the  impact of the hard and parlous state of the economy for, especially, the  underprivileged people, I thought that I should take this decision\u2026It  is even a miracle that at this stage we can even supply fuel to  Ghanaians so I want my brothers and sisters to bear with me. It is not  that we are not caring. We had to make a choice and I want to promise  you [that] whatever it is that we can save, we will put it to some  productive use<\/strong>,\u201d he pledged.<br \/>\nThe CJA lieutenant said  President Mills\u2019 claims that the recent hike in fuel prices was meant to  generate revenue to develop the country is an honest and sincere  admission.<br \/>\nI spoke about the difference between what President  Mills said and what other apologists have said. Yesterday (Friday), Prez  Mills made it very very clear that the petroleum price increase was a  revenue generation measure that gov\u2019t needed the resources to be able to  solve concrete problems of health, education and so on that confronts  our people. That to me was an honest admission, if it is a revenue  making measure\u2026let us debate that. But even that I\u2019ve a problem with it,  even though it is honest and sincere, I\u2019ve a problem with it,\u201d he  stated.<br \/>\nAccording to him, petrol increment is not about profit  and loss making or how a petty trader increases her goods, and believes  that the timing of the increment was very bad since people have school  fees and other pressing financial needs to take care of.<br \/>\n\u201cWhy will you increase petrol in the first week of the year? Ebiee!\u201d he screamed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has hailed President John Evans Atta Mills for not following the normal routine of giving Ghanaians the same explanation whenever petroleum prices are increased, but going further to explain the real issue on the ground during the \u201cAction Year\u201d Editors Forum held at the Osu Castle. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>There&#039;s No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"There&#039;s No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has hailed President John Evans Atta Mills for not following the normal routine of giving Ghanaians the same explanation whenever petroleum prices are increased, but going further to explain the real issue on the ground during the \u201cAction Year\u201d Editors Forum held at the Osu Castle. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"There&#8217;s No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-10T13:45:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/\"},\"wordCount\":663,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/\",\"name\":\"There's No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-10T13:45:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"There's No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"There's No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has hailed President John Evans Atta Mills for not following the normal routine of giving Ghanaians the same explanation whenever petroleum prices are increased, but going further to explain the real issue on the ground during the \u201cAction Year\u201d Editors Forum held at the Osu Castle. [&hellip;]","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"There&#8217;s No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt","datePublished":"2011-01-10T13:45:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/"},"wordCount":663,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/","name":"There's No Gov\u2019t Subsidy On Petroleum Products\u2026It\u2019s An Accounting Trick \u2013 Pratt - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-10T13:45:20+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/10\/theres-no-govt-subsidy-on-petroleum-productsits-an-accounting-trick-pratt\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}