The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano South, Steven Balado Manu, has said that if government removes subsidies on petroleum products, prices of commodities on the market will increase and hurt consumers.
Government has said it spends an estimated GHC2.4 billion on subsidies on petrol, diesel and LPG.
Speaking on Citi Fm’s, Balado Manu indicated that until an alternative is found to balance the sale of petroleum products, removing subsidies must not be an option.
“When fuel subsidies are removed, the repercussion that it will bring to this country is that it is going to hike up the prices of everything because fuel is such that once you touch it you would affect everything,” he said.
According to him, fuel prices would be increased, also people who transport their wares would increase the prices of their goods and the final consumer would be the loser at the end of the day.
He added that the inability of the Tema Oil Refinery to refine crude has contributed to increased importation of finished petroleum products from abroad.
“The importation of finished products is what is causing problems,” he said. He advocated that “we should begin to find the causes of the shortages of fuel and not the passing of the full cost to the consumer.”
Source: GhanaWeb
