US, Iran tension: Plan now to save Ghanaian consumers from ‘suffering’ – COPEC urges govt

According to him, the government of Ghana should consciously ensure that at least 25 percent of its oil production are retained to feed its local refineries so that the international market price dynamics do not overly affect consumers and the country at large.

In a phone interview with GhanaWeb, Mr Amoah advised that the “government should plan now with the way oil prices are going up on the international market because we are a price taker of a country, whatever happens on the international market filters directly at the local consumers in Ghana”.

“Ghana in a way has a beneficial hand now due to its own refinery hence, the earlier government takes advantage of the oil production now, the better for all,” he added

The Executive Secretary of COPEC bemoaned that in order not for government to overburden the local market, it needs to ease down taxes when the world market prices are quite high in this state that the cedi is finding its footing.

“One would expect that the tax levels will be drawn down or dropped so that it can accommodate whatever shocks that you are seeing from the international market,” Duncan Amoah said.

Oil prices have climbed above US$70 a barrel for the first time in four months amid fears that the US air strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may trigger a retaliation, theguardian.com reported.

The global oil markets have risen by more than 5% to US$70.73 a barrel since the attack that killed Qassem Suleimani in Iraq last week.

The attack has however had a shakeup in the global markets causing equity indices in Asia, the US and Europe to slump.

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