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Oil prices and developing countries
The effect of crude oil prices on the economies of countries is a very unpleasant experience that does not only negatively affect economic growth but also brings about disastrous consequences that can also lead to unexpected political upheavals and cause havoc for a number of people.
When the prices of crude oil begin to rise, it results in inflationary trends that bring about high prices of goods and services even in countries that are economically well off. This is an unfortunate situation in which many developing countries find themselves and are expected to cope with whether they like it or not.
FUEL PRICES
The past few weeks have seen crude oil prices fall, for which reason the cost of fuel has become a bit more bearable.
It is not that fuel prices are being sold at very low prices, but compared to previous times, these fuel prices can be described as better.
PRODUCTION CUT
It is high fuel prices that have made economic life unbearable in both developed and developing countries. In the case of developing countries, many budgets have been thrown out of gear. This unfortunate situation is likely to arise again because Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) wants to cut down on the production of crude oil. When this happens, the prices of fuel will start rising again.
In the case of Ghana, the gold for oil policy being implemented by the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia administration is yielding positive results, but if crude oil prices in the world market continue to rise because of production cuts by OPEC, the stable prices in Ghana may start rising again.
OPPOSITION’S COMMENTS
We have heard comments from the opposition that the government should not take any glory for the current fall in fuel prices. Their argument is that if world oil prices begin to go up, the inevitable result will be rising fuel prices.
While this is true, if things go bad because of rising crude oil prices on the world market, the effect will be unpleasant for all Ghanaians, not just a section of them.
Why don’t we think about the country before any other political consideration?
GOLD FOR OIL
The gold for oil policy is good because it has helped to reduce pressure on the dollar. This pressure reduction has helped stabilise the cedi, preventing any sharp rise in oil prices in the country.
If OPEC carries out its production cut, the effect on the global economy particularly that of developing countries, will be very disastrous.
Already, oil prices have surged after several of the world’s largest exporters announced surprise cuts in production. The price of Brent crude oil is trading above $84 a barrel after jumping by almost six per cent.
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
This is not pleasant news because of its unbearable economic consequences for developing countries, many of which are struggling to find their economic levels.
Economists warned that higher oil prices could make it harder to bring down the cost of living. But the RAC motoring group said it does not expect petrol prices to rise unless the higher oil price is sustained over several days.
UNSYMPATHETIC OPEC
Brent crude prices rose after Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and several Gulf states said on Sunday they were cutting output by more than one million barrels of oil a day. It seems as if, in the world of today, OPEC does not care about the plight of developing countries, but how much money they can make for themselves alone.
In addition, Russia said it will extend its cut of half a million barrels per day until the end of the year.
Energy giants BP and Shell saw their share prices rise on Monday, with both rising more than four per cent.
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Developing countries, including those in Africa, must know who their true friends are. If things are to continue this way, then countries in the developing world, including Ghana, will be pushed to the wall.
It is our expectation that OPEC will not continue with its decision for long in order to give some breathing space to all developing countries, including those in Africa.
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BY DR KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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