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Members of the Economic Management Team (EMT) have met stakeholders in the economy to discuss ways to mitigate any adverse effects of fuel price hikes on the public. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) announced the cutting of fuel subsidies in December 2011 following the increase in crude oil prices and the depreciation of the cedi. Friday�s meeting, which was chaired by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, was attended by the leadership of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), the Ghana Employers Association and the NPA. Also present were the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffour; the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur; the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr P.V. Obeng; the Head of the Government Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Dr Tony Aidoo; Employment minister, Mr E.T. Mensah, and the Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Mr Alex Mould. In his opening remarks before the meeting went into a closed-door session, Mr Mahama said the EMT wanted to discuss recent concerns raised by stakeholders following petroleum price adjustments. He said the aim was to engage with stakeholders �to move together on the same wavelength�. �The economy belongs to all of us; it does not belong to the government alone. There are times when certain decisions have to be taken, although painful,� he stressed. Mr. Mahama said the government absorbed fuel subsidy the whole of last year and indicated that it had a balance of GH�80 million to pay to the petroleum buying companies (PBCs) as a result of the subsidy. He said if the government should continue with the subsidy, it would have to pay GH�760 million to compensate the PBCs this year. That, he said, was on the high side, given that the government was expected to receive only GH�1.2 billion from the Jubilee Field this year. Besides, the Vice-President said, the government�s wage bill had gone up with the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), while crude prices had gone up following the turbulence in the world geo-politics, one instance being the growing rift between the USA and Iran. To cushion the burden, he said, the Risk Management Committee was hedging fuel at a price to protect the government and consumers, saying that the citizens had to cover the difference. He said one of the mitigating steps taken by the government was the payment of salary arrears and the early payment of the salaries of public sector workers. Vice-President Mahama expressed the hope that the stakeholders would agree on the way forward and mitigate any adverse effects of fuel price hikes on the people. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked countries in West and Central Africa to cut fuel subsidies, which the fund says are not effective in directly aiding the poor but do promote corruption and smuggling. Consequently, the past months have seen governments in Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and Chad moving to cut state subsidies on fuel. In an earlier statement, Mr Mould said the cumulative effect of the rise in crude oil prices this year and the about 5.7 per cent depreciation of the cedi meant a 25 per cent increase in cedi terms in the cost of procuring crude oil and petroleum products since January. He said Ghana spent about GH�450 million ($276 million) on fuel subsidies in 2011.