Government has been urged to adopt pragmatic measures to regulate the free market economy to ensure that recent macroeconomic gains translate into tangible benefits for consumers.
The call was made by Mr. Benaiah Nii Addo, Executive Director of Green Tax Youth Africa (GTYA), a civil society organisation, who said consumers had yet to feel the impact of improvements such as the appreciation of the cedi and the continuous decline in inflation.
He noted that despite the relative economic stability, prices of goods and services remained high because private sector operators, driven largely by profit motives, had refused to reduce prices in line with the gains in the economy.
In a statement, Mr. Nii Addo commended government for the macroeconomic reforms implemented in the past year but expressed concern that the absence of effective competitive oversight and price transparency mechanisms continued to undermine consumer welfare.
He said weak seasonal market regulation had also eroded public confidence in economic policy, adding that repeated appeals to businesses to voluntarily reduce prices under the free market system had not yielded results.
“If government wants businesses to pass on gains to consumers, it must change how the economy is structured and regulated. Moral persuasion without policy will not work,” he stated.
Mr. Nii Addo proposed five strategies government could adopt under its economic resetting agenda to ensure shared benefits.
These include the introduction of seasonal price stabilisation measures, strengthening competitive enforcement, and aligning fiscal, trade and industrial policies to reduce the structural cost of doing business.
He also called for a reduction in the tax burden on local manufacturers and increased investment in industrial zones to lower production costs and reduce import dependency.
On utilities, Mr. Nii Addo suggested freezing quarterly tariff adjustments and adopting a more predictable annual tariff framework aligned with income levels, industrial needs and inflation trends.
He further recommended strengthening the monitoring and enforcement powers of the National Cooperative Commission to curb price fixing, cartel behaviour and monopolistic practices in essential commodity markets.
Additionally, he called for a review and rationalisation of the multiple taxes and levies contributing to high fuel prices, proposing a cap of GH¢2 per litre to ease transport and commodity price pressures.
Mr. Nii Addo said Ghana needed a people-centred economic model in which macroeconomic gains translated into real improvements in living standards.
