A former Chief Executive Officer of National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Alex Mould has hinted of fuel shortage in the country if government do not intervene in providing foreign exchange to the banking sector immediately.
Mr. Mould, who doubles as a former Executive Director of Standard Chartered bank indicates that, banks are not providing sufficient foreign currency needed to meet the payment of their maturing Letter of Credits (LCs) issued to international fuel traders.
"The banks are crying out that the Bank of Ghana is not able to provide enough foreign currencies (especially the U.S dollar), through its forex auctions, to meet their trading partners needs.
“This is causing BDC‘s to max out on their credit-line limits with their banks, and the implication is that the banks will no longer be able to finance fuel imports by October”, the petroleum and banking expert said in an interview.
"The, current situation, if not addressed, could prove disastrous for the country as this could trigger a domino effect and even imports of essential commodities could come to a grinding halt.
As it stands, not only fuel shortage is imminent, but food items such as rice, sugar, protein food (fish, meats) and bakery products; “it could be a bleak Christmas this year”, he added;
To salvage the situation, Mr Mould proffered that, “Government needs to act decisively and quickly before International Banks’ Credit and Country Risk teams start reviewing downwards their Country-limits to Ghana, if they have not already done so since S&Ps recent downgrade – the last of the three major rating agencies that have down graded Ghana this year.
Such actions by the local bank’s International partners will cause a FX credit crunch resulting in defaults by Ghanaian importers to their suppliers. This would only trigger a scramble for the scare foreign exchange which could send the cedi spiraling in a free falli!
“GoG only choice is to accelerate their discussions with IMF to enter into an immediate Bridge-program whilst working on the main Take-Out Program ,which sources suggest will kick in sometime in first quarter of 2023.”
Latest Stories
-
Extraordinary photos from the funeral of Pope Francis
1 minute -
Pope Francis laid to rest after Vatican funeral service
18 minutes -
Our polling station executives and grassroots are our greatest assets, I thank them – Bawumia
28 minutes -
Trump questions Putin’s intentions after meeting with Zelensky ahead of Pope’s funeral
29 minutes -
IACG targets 1,000 market traders and artisans in Western, Western North Regions as part 2025 Micro Business Clinics
32 minutes -
Ghanaians should be worried about undermining the judiciary – Ex-Deputy A.G.
32 minutes -
2024 Election: Our own members attacked the party and the NDC played them back against us – Bawumia
39 minutes -
Incentive packages needed to tackle staff attrition in health sector – Parliament
41 minutes -
Let’s give thanks to God for all things – Bawumia declares as he starts ‘Thank You Tour’ in Takoradi
42 minutes -
Ghanaians have lost the will to fight ‘galamsey’ – Barker-Vormawor laments
52 minutes -
MTN confirms hack; assures customers core systems remain secure
55 minutes -
GOC Elections: Evans Yeboah elected treasurer
1 hour -
Threshold for petitioning to remove Chief Justice inadequate – Prof Agyeman-Duah
1 hour -
GOC elects Richard Akpokavie as new president
1 hour -
Photos: CAF President visits Mahama ahead of football championship finals
1 hour