The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is calling out the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) over continued high market prices despite the recent stability of the Ghanaian cedi. COPEC’s Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, has dismissed GUTA’s assertion that it could take up to three more months for the impact of the cedi’s strength to be reflected in the prices of goods.
Earlier this week, GUTA President Dr. Joseph Obeng attributed the lag to market dynamics.
According to him, “the market forces also determine prices of goods for Ghanaian consumers,” adding that while some importers may reduce prices quickly, it may take more time for retailers to do the same.
But Duncan Amoah is not convinced. He insists that regardless of the pricing models in use whether forward forecast or spot pricing Ghanaians should already be seeing a drop in prices.
“I think that the excuses at this point will not wash for most Ghanaians like myself. For petrol prices, we do deal with some of the indexes. And so, I am a bit surprised that some of the GUTA folks are trying to rationalize that it will have to take three months. That clearly, I don’t think we should allow that to stand.” Amoah stated.
He went further to explain the pricing mechanisms. “Forward forecast allows petroleum importation players to sometimes project that by the time I’m done selling my consignment, the cedi could be trading to the dollar at GHC17 so I would need to factor that into my pricing”. He noted,
“Forth pricing says that what rate is today, you apply that today. Whichever of the two you would apply today, prices ought to come down further.” He added.
COPEC has pledged to intensify engagements to ensure that the cedi’s appreciation translates into lower fuel and commodity prices.
“By Monday, we will also be dealing with the BVDs to ensure that whatever it is that the Ghanaian consumers would want to get at this time, they would get it,” Amoah assured.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama, recently clarified that the cedi’s stability is not the result of direct central bank interventions. Instead, he attributed the trend to robust inflows and ongoing foreign exchange market reforms.
“The stability you are seeing now is not because we are intervening, it is not because we are selling reserves for stability, no,” Dr. Asiama said.
“Remember our reserves programmes actually go up by the day, we are building more and more reserves. All that we are doing is strengthening the surge in inflows, a number of foreign exchange market reforms are being implemented.” He added.
According to BoG data, the cedi had appreciated by 2.76% against the U.S. dollar as of April 2025—marking one of the most sustained periods of currency stability in recent years.
As the macroeconomic indicators improve, the pressure is now on traders and importers to reflect those gains in consumer prices.
