Four civil society organizations namely IMANI Africa, COPEC Ghana, INSTEPR, and the Institute for Energy Security (IES) have jointly recommended a cumulative reduction of GH¢1.65 from the current petroleum price build-up, calling on the Ministers of Finance and Energy to extend the proposed relief period from four weeks to two months.
The proposal announced in a statement released on Tuesday,April 14, 2026 follows a directive by President John Mahama during the recent cabinet meeting,instructing the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Finance to review the petroleum price build-up and recommend possible reductions in taxes, margins, and levies to offer temporary relief to Ghanaians.
While acknowledging the government’s intent, the CSOs argued that the two-month window would provide more meaningful and sustained relief compared to the four-week timeline initially floated by government.
“While some of us in the civil society space believe that the relief should be substantial given the level of tolerated waste across the downstream petroleum ecosystem, it must nevertheless not lead to a sudden corrosive effect on operations and sustainability of the petroleum subsector,” the organisations stated in their joint communiqué.
The groups further noted that the recommended reduction would not unduly burden the country’s fiscal space, pointing to expected windfalls from upstream crude production and exports within the same period.
Beyond the immediate relief, the four organisations are collectively pushing for a more comprehensive and permanent overhaul of Ghana’s fuel pricing regime. Among their key recommendations are:
• A thorough rationalisation of all existing taxes, levies, and margins, with the aim of permanently removing those deemed a drag on individual and national resources.
• The establishment of a Strategic Reserve Fund, to be seeded by some of the levies under review, with revenues earmarked for the purchase and storage of fuel reserves that can be deployed to stabilise the domestic market during unforeseen disruptions.
• Modernisation and retooling of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), enabling TOR and partner refineries to process more of the country’s crude liftings domestically, while BOST builds the infrastructure needed to store larger volumes.
The organisations noted that the commitment to invest in TOR and BOST was a pledge made by President Mahama at his last engagement with civil society groups and hence must be met.
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