More facts have emerged on why the Ghanaian National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has successfully removed fuel subsidy in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of NPA, Abdul Hamid, announced the feat during a presentation at the ongoing Africa Refiners and Distributers week 2023, in Cape Town, South Africa, saying the removal of the subsidy is part of the country’s implemented regulatory measures to ensure stability across its downstream sector.
Part of the strategies that helped the removal to work without civil crisis is that NPA created a special fund to assist refineries in boosting their capacity to 50 barrels of oil in order to meet the country’s growing demand.
Analysts say this cannot work in Nigeria as there are no private refineries that can boost local supplies which is a sure way to cheaper fuel price in the first instance.
The NPA boss noted that the Ghanaian government, through the NPA, has also removed energy subsidies.
“We have removed subsidies and deregulated our markets. Industries were shutting down because the government was finding it hard to find the money to provide subsidies and to this day industry is being powered by investments in the private sector and there are no complaints of supply.
“We are ensuring affordability and security for the vulnerable consumers through the removal of energy subsidies,” he said while speaking on more reforms implemented in the NPA.
He disclosed the plans were implemented in response to the global oil and gas market volatility caused by the Russian-Ukraine war and energy transition-related policies.
