Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta has announced that prices of petrol and diesel will reduce by 1.6% and 1.4% with effect from April 1, 2022.
According to the minister, the government will reduce the margin price build-up of petroleum products by a total of 15 pesewas.
Addressing the country on measures being taken to curb the economic challenges, Ofori-Atta said, this is expected to be implemented for the next three months.
“To mitigate the impact of the rising price of petroleum products at the pump, for the next three months, government has decided to reduce margins in the petroleum price build-up by a total of 15 pesewas per litre with effect from April 1.”
“We anticipate that the measures taken to strengthen the currency will help further stabilise the prices at the pump,” he added.
Mr. Ofori Atta said the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is in discussion with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to reduce their margins within the spirit of burden-sharing.
“The government will do all it can to ensure consistent supply of fuel and manage the rate of ex-pump price increase by ensuring that BoG has access to adequate foreign exchange,” Ofori-Atta added.
The Finance Minister also announced a ban on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year with immediate effect.
He said this will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives.
“With immediate effect, Government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year. This will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives. We will ensure that the overall effect is to reduce total vehicle purchases by the public sector by at least 50 percent for the period,” he said.
“Again, with immediate effect Government has imposed a moratorium on all foreign travels, except pre-approved critical/statutory travels; Government will conclude on-going measures to eliminate “ghost” workers from the Government payroll by end December 2022;
“In line with this, there will be a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and Heads of government institutions, including SOEs, effective 1st April 2022,” he added.
Source: PulseGhana
