The Minority in Parliament has demanded that President Akufo-Addo dissolve his Economic Management Team immediately due to the shaky cedi.
The rise in fuel prices in the country, according to the Minority, is due to the depreciation of the local currency rather than growing crude prices on the international market.
John Jinapor, the Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, spoke to the media and asked the government to use the oil export windfall to help Ghanaian consumers.
“This administration has been a colossal failure. Mr. Jinapor informed the media on Friday that he wants President Akufo-Addo to dissolve the Economic Management Team because it has failed to meet expectations.
“This morning the exchange rate – the dollar to cedi is trading at 8.5 Ghana cedi,” he continued. In terms of performance against other major currencies, the Ghanaian cedi is now the poorest. Diesel costs more than 40 cedis per gallon at the pump. That is the current situation of Ghanaian economics. Workers, teachers, truckers, members of parliament, and market women are all suffering greatly.”
“You really don’t know how you’re going to make ends meet when you wake up today.” And instead of waking up and thinking outside the box, all we hear is that the government has no control over world market pricing. Because of the depreciation of the cedi, we now buy gasoline. The cedi is under our control here. Dr. Bawumia’s EMT has failed miserably, and they’ve run out of ideas,” the Ranking Member continued.
Mr. Jinapor also urged the government to use a portion of the funds raised from energy sector levies, particularly the Price Stabilization Levy, to help Ghanaians cope with rising oil prices.