Diesel would sell near GH¢28 per litre without government intervention, National Petroleum Authority CEO Godwin Edudzi Tameklo says.

Tameklo revealed the scale of government's fuel price cushioning on Citi FM Wednesday, tying it to a dramatic surge in international diesel costs since February 2026.

He said a tonne of diesel on the international market has jumped from about US$794 in February to US$1,519, nearly doubling within seven months. Left unchecked, that spike would have pushed pump prices far higher than what Ghanaian motorists currently pay.

To prevent that, government has spent close to GH¢1 billion so far absorbing part of the increase, according to Tameklo. He said the support currently amounts to roughly GH¢20 in savings for every 10 litres of diesel purchased.

"I need to point out that for the intervention from government, a litre of diesel should be selling within the region of GH¢28 per litre," Tameklo said, underscoring how far actual pump prices sit below what unmitigated international costs would demand.

He said the intervention was designed to stop the full weight of rising global prices from landing directly on consumers, warning that unchecked increases could ripple into transportation costs and the broader price of goods and services.

The disclosure comes as Ghana's fuel sector has faced mounting pressure this year, with international supply tightened by conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East pushing prices to multi-year highs in several markets. Government has previously credited a stronger cedi and targeted interventions with helping ease pump prices after an earlier spike. Tameklo's comments put a concrete figure on how much of that relief consumers are currently receiving — and how sharply prices could rise without it.