Threat against supply of petroleum products to be addressed

The Vice President, Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur has called for an urgent meeting between stakeholders in the downstream petroleum sector early next week to discuss recent development in the sector.

The meeting which will be attended by officials from National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the Energy Ministry and members from petroleum distributors companies is to deal with the threat of disruption in the supply of petroleum products in the country.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur requested for the meeting after briefings from Minister of Energy and officials of NPA during the Economic management meeting at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

The Economic Management Meeting reviewed major developments in the economy with regard to the current fiscal situation especially the exchange rate, revenue mobilization and government expenditure.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur directed the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Bank of Ghana to adopt and implement pragmatic measures to halt the depreciation of the cedi.

The Vice President also directed all government agencies and departments to ensure that government expenditure is maintained within agreed regime.

The Ministry of Finance was asked to expedite action on the disbursement of the Chinese Development Bank loan to ensure that Ghanaians realised the benefit of the loan.

On the development in the petroleum sector, Mr. Amissah-Arthur requested for an urgent meeting with major stakeholders to deal with the threat of fuel shortage in the country.

He expressed his desire that NPA stick to the automatic adjustment formula for fixing prices petroleum products so that Ghanaian benefit from the formula.

Another issue that received serious attention and immediate direction from H.E Amissah-Arthur were projects selected under the Public-Private Partnership policy initiated by the government in 2012.

The Vice President directed the relevant ministries to ensure that the selected projects commenced as early as possible to enable the objective of the PPP policy becomes reality.

Other issues discussed included Ghana’s commitment to the Millennium Challenge Compact II, maximization of government revenue for the 2014 fiscal period and issues concerning the implementation of the Single Spine Salary after Ho, among others.

The meeting also decided to allow the Economic Management Team to engage with other stakeholders such as Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI), Private Enterprises Foundation, Organized labour, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce.