President John Mahama appears to be making a jest of Ghanaians after they demanded a reduction in the prices of petroleum products in the country given the drastic decline of the price of crude oil on the world market.
Instead of directing the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to adhere to its automatic adjustment formula for fixing the prices of petroleum products, the President recently told Angel Fm, a Kumasi-based radio station that a 10 percent reduction in the price of a gallon of petrol was drastic and just enough.
In order to exploit Ghanaians, President Mahama also called for the introduction of a mitigation levy on petroleum products, saying that would cushion users of petroleum products when the price of crude begins to rise again.
Government has refused to heed calls for a reduction in prices because it is using the excess income to settle debts owed Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs).
According to government, it has paid GH¢200 million from a whopping GH¢412 million.
In July last year, crude oil was sold at $114 per barrel on the world market, and this compelled Government to immediately to increase the prices of petroleum products by 23 percent.
Oil prices on the international market continued to slide, with U.S. prices trading below $50 a barrel.
Light, sweet oil for February delivery fell $1.18, or 2.4 percent, to $48.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of Tuesday, January 6, 2015.
Owning to the drastic drop in crude oil prices on the world market, many people have called on the NPA to cut down the prices of petroleum products in the country to reflect crude oil prices on the world market.
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