The New Patriotic Party’s Policy Committee on Energy has issued a sharp warning that the government’s current diesel price intervention risks plunging Ghana’s energy sector into a new cycle of debt.
In a statement released and signed by Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, MP and Chairman of the NPP Policy Coordination Committee, on September 11, 2026, the committee accused the government of financing a GHC2-per-litre diesel “relief” measure by stripping the downstream petroleum sector of more than GHC500 million every month in statutory margins, rather than forgoing any of its own tax revenue.
According to the NPP, the intervention is sustained by suspending key margins that fund BOST, primary distribution, fuel marking and the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF).
The party estimated the monthly cost at approximately GHC519 million for the core GHC2 suspension and closer to GHC683 million when implied UPPF support is included. Cumulative withholdings for April, May, August and September 2026 already stand at GHC2.076 billion. None of this revenue has been replaced, the statement said, and the shortfall is quietly translating into deferred maintenance, supplier arrears and institutional borrowing.
The committee argued that this approach mirrors the conditions that previously created Ghana’s energy-sector debt crisis: obligations left intact while the revenue streams designed to meet them are diverted. It notes that diesel is already retailing above GHC17 at major oil marketing companies and could cross GHC18 per litre even with the intervention in place, given recent rises in international diesel prices and a weaker cedi.
The NPP contrasted the downstream burden with the government’s own windfall from higher global oil prices. The 2026 Budget had projected a crude benchmark of US$76.22 per barrel; prices have since averaged around US$89 and peaked near US$110.
Combined with higher-than-expected production, the party estimates additional government revenue of GHC8–9 billion—roughly six times the debt it says has been loaded onto the downstream sector.
Rather than continuing to suspend margins, the committee proposed suspending government taxes and levies on petroleum products for the duration of the Gulf crisis.
It highlighted the Energy Sector Shortfall and Debt Repayment Levy, which currently stands at GHC1.93 per litre of diesel after a GHC1 increase imposed in 2025—almost exactly matching the size of the current intervention.
Suspending taxes, the NPP argued, would place the cost transparently on the budget, preserve the financial health of BOST, distributors, fuel marketers, and the UPPF, and avoid converting short-term price relief into long-term public debt.
The statement questioned the sustainability of the current path. “If the crisis lasts another month, does the government extend the GHC2? If it lasts three months, or six? If crude moves well above US$100 a barrel, does the subsidy become GHC3 or GHC4? Where does it end?” It concludes with a clear demand: restore the statutory margins, publish the full cost of the intervention, stop accumulating downstream debt, and suspend the taxes instead.
