‘If NPP was ‘insensitive’ over fuel prices, NDC must accept same description now’ – Amin Adam

Former Finance Minister and Parliament’s Finance Committee Ranking Member, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has called on the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to accept the same criticism leveled against the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government regarding rising fuel prices. In a Facebook post on September 27, Dr Amin Adam pointed out that the NDC, during its opposition tenure, had labelled the fuel price escalations under the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration as a sign of "insensitive and poor leadership."

The party had attributed these increases to taxes, cedi depreciation, and economic management, urging the government to stabilize the currency to reduce fuel costs. Dr Amin Adam acknowledged that the fuel price hike in 2021 was triggered by a major global energy crisis, with Brent crude oil prices surging from around US$50 per barrel at the start of the year to nearly US$86 by late October.

He also highlighted global data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which showed a sharp 469 million barrels decline in petroleum inventories in 2021, alongside the IMF reporting a spike in Brent crude prices above US$85 due to tight energy supplies and a worldwide surge in fuel prices. Dr Amin Adam emphasized that the fundamental principles governing fuel prices remain unchanged, regardless of the government in power.

He explained that the equation - International product price × Exchange rate + Taxes/Levies + Margins = Domestic Pump Price - remains valid, and Ghana, being a price-taker in the global petroleum market, is susceptible to fluctuations in international prices and exchange rates. Therefore, Dr Amin Adam argued, the NDC should apply the same standards it used to critique the NPP government to its own administration.

"If the NPP was insensitive and demonstrated poor leadership because fuel prices were rising, then the NDC should accept the same description now, rather than trying to explain it away," he concluded. According to Dr Amin Adam, the factors cited by the NDC today - international petroleum prices, geopolitical tensions, and exchange-rate dynamics - were also present in 2021.

"The economics of fuel pricing has not changed; it has merely changed the party responsible for explaining it," he added.