Institutions in charge of price regulation must act - NPP Communicator

A Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Eric Agyei, has called on institutions in charge of price regulation to act immediately over the adjustment of the prices of goods and services in the country.

The call is an addition to the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA)’s call on the Business Community to adjust the prices of goods and services following the current performance of the Cedi as against the Dollar.

GUTA in a statement appreciated the efforts being made by the government and the Bank of Ghana to stabilize the Cedi and consequently asked the business community to adjust the prices of goods and services to reflect the gains being made by the national currency.

This year, the cedi to dollar exchange rate reached $1 to GH15, but it now trades slightly above GH12.50 to the dollar.

In a statement issued over the weekend, GUTA urged the Government to continue with more efforts to sustain the program and bring relief to the business community.

“As the value of the Cedi begins to appreciate, GUTA wishes to appeal to members of the business community to also adjust prices of goods and services accordingly, to make the consuming public feel the impact of this positive trend,” the statement added.

“We hope to see further and continuous appreciation of the Cedi and envisage that the economy will turn around in the shortest possible time,” GUTA said.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the Ghana cedi was the best-performing currency against the US dollar last week.

The currency, having lost more than 50% of its value in the year, gained 10% against the dollar.

Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Mr. Eric Agyei observed that although the Cedi was performing better as against the Dollar, most business owners have refused to reduce the prices of their goods and services.

Citing fuel prices, he observed that although fuel prices have reduced, the ‘trotro’ drivers have refused to reduce the price of transportation fares, therefore calling on the institutions that matter in terms of the regulation of prices to come in immediately to ensure that the prices of goods and services are adjusted.

“Last week, I went to buy fuel and there is a significant change in the price, but ‘trotro’ drivers do not want to reduce the fares, so the Institutions that matter in terms of price regulation must come in because it is not everything that the government can come in and that is why the government has sectors, and all the prices must come down because when things go up, they increase prices, but when things go down, you say you will not reduce prices and we have to look at that,” he said.

Meanwhile, he assured that the cedi will keep appreciating for sometime due to some measures put in place by the government.