Fuel Price May Double

Ghanaian Transport and Communications Minister Francis Owusu-Agyapong, Monday hinted that the price of fuel could almost double in the country from 6,400 cedis to around 13,000 cedis per gallon for premium petrol. (7,000 cedis=1USD). He said the options available to government were to either \"let the public take the dosage at a go or adopt a gradual increment to soften and reduce its effect on the ordinary people.\"

Owusu-Agyapong, who gave no time frame for the anticipated price hike, was answering questions after a meeting between members of the Cabinet Committee on the media and Chief Executives/Editors of State-owned media in Accra. He said from research and advice reaching the government, it is likely that the final price could be around 12,000 to 14,000 cedis per gallon of premium petrol. \"But the problem is, should it be dispensed at one go or in phases?\"

The Minister said for the business community, which plans on a long-term basis, long intervals between price hikes could be more favourable but for the public, \"we need to find tolerance levels especially when we cannot raise wages by similar margins.\" He appealed to the media to sensitise the public on government policies and programmes for accelerated development, noting that the State was running a daily deficit of six billion cedis for failure to charge economic prices for fuel. Long queues have been forming in Ghana since last week from a worsening fuel shortage. Meanwhile, Owusu-Agyapong said government has instructed the Ministry of Finance to work out details of a salary adjustment for workers.