Government is planning to spend some 140 million Ghana cedis every year to insulate the country against price volatility in crude oil imports. The hedging policy which first took effect in October last year has to a large extent ensured stable fuel prices at the pumps. Joy Business’ George Wiafe reported the disclosure was contained in a letter signed by the Minister of Finance Kwabena Duffour and Governor of the bank of Ghana to the IMF Managing Director, dated May 22 of this year. Government in the letter says it hopes to use the windfall revenue from the hedge to cushion consumers. It has also given the assurance that it will not spend more than the proposed 140 million Ghana cedis on the hedging policy. Government has already taken the decision to hedge revenue from the sale of its share of crude oil from the Jubilee Field. It is pegged at 107 dollars a barrel. The letter also outlines policies that government intends to undertake from this year to 2013 in order to qualify for assistance from the fund under its extended credit facility program. The fund has so far advanced 303 million Ghana cedis out of a total 613 million dollars due the country under the facility. It has however in recent times stated its disquiet about government's inability to meet targets conditional to the disbursement. Source: Joy Business/Ghana