{"id":523821,"date":"2026-04-10T18:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/523821\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T18:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:50:09","slug":"fuel-tax-suspension-masks-deeper-economic-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/523821\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel tax suspension masks deeper economic challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr <\/a>Dr Bernard Okoe Boye is a former Minister of Health<\/p>\n

A former Minister of Health, Bernard Okoe Boye<\/a>, has cautioned that the government\u2019s decision to suspend fuel taxes offers only temporary relief and risks deepening Ghana\u2019s underlying fiscal challenges.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Metro TV\u2019s Good Morning Ghana on April 10, 2026, he urged policymakers to adopt more innovative and realistic approaches to managing the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with time, things are likely to remain the same in this country or worse, unless we get leaders that are willing to be innovative and to think outside the box,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Okoe Boye criticised what he described as a recurring pattern in Ghana\u2019s handling of fuel price increases, where governments attempt to shield consumers despite limited fiscal space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu that is going on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tax Cuts, Coupon Cancellation and More: Details of cabinet’s emergency meeting on fuel prices<\/a><\/p>\n

He added that such measures are often driven by political expediency rather than long-term sustainability.<\/p>\n

He cautioned that absorbing the impact of fuel price increases can mask the true cost of governance and place additional strain on public finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen petrol prices go up, the government comes to say we have absorbed the increases. You had a country that was claiming to absorb increases in petrol prices when we ourselves were not fiscally sound,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

He explained that when governments face revenue shortfalls, they are typically left with difficult choices borrowing, printing money through the central bank, or increasing taxes all of which have consequences for citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither you borrow or you finance from the central bank, which is printing money, where we all pay through inflation. Or you raise tax,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Okoe Boye also raised concerns about the assumptions behind ongoing revenue reform efforts, suggesting that some projections may be flawed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to calculate that equation and it was wrong,\u201d he indicated.<\/p>\n

He stressed that Ghana must prioritise honest budgeting and realistic economic planning instead of politically driven interventions.<\/p>\n

MRA\/VPO<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s Rent Crisis: Ag Rent Commissioner details weak enforcements, rising costs<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Bernard Okoe Boye is a former Minister of Health A former Minister of Health, Bernard Okoe Boye,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-523821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}