By Dominic Hlodzi.
Energy Analyst, Dr. Ussif Suleimana, has lauded the deregulation of Ghana’s petroleum downstream sector, explaining that the policy has greatly contributed to the benefit of the government.
In an interview with GBC News in Accra, Dr. Suleimana said the initiative also brings competition to the domestic petroleum market. The deregulation of the sale of petroleum products at the pump fully took off in 2015.
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The system allowed market forces to determine fuel prices as against the practice where the government announced the prices in the annual budget.
The sector was depoliticized and the government hugely benefited from the policy since it no longer had to subsidize diesel and petrol for consumers.
Dr. Ussif Suleimana explained that competition among the oil marketing companies affected the pricing at the pump and consumers were spoilt for choice.
The Government of Ghana regulated the prices of petroleum products until 2001 when the deregulation set in and fully completed in 2015.