Solomon Nkansah, a former national communications officer for the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has reaffirmed that if Ghana doesn't devote determined resources to making the Tema Oil Refinery efficient, its economy will remain excessively vulnerable to market volatility.

He said, "We need to figure out how to internalize our competitive advantage so that we don't go out and pay money to a refinery in Europe while your facility has been almost completely idle and abandoned."

According to Solomon Nkansah, if Tema Oil Refinery is run effectively, the nation will be able to keep the foreign cash that would typically be used to buy petroleum goods out of the economy.

“You cannot continue to be an oil-producing country and kick out your refinery. If we knock out the refinery, what it simply means is that you are going to depend on Europe for your economy to run because virtually what your vehicles and engines would consume would have to be imported and that explains why the Ghanaian cedi has never been able to perform well because if are always importing petroleum products , you can imagine how much it takes away from your economy,” Solomon Nkansah told Kwaku Owusu Adjei on Adwenekasa on Accra-based Original FM 91.9.

The rising fuel prices and general spike in inflation have resulted in the exponential increase in the price of goods across the country.

He noted that until Ghana enhances its competitive advantage when it comes to the production of oil and refinery, dollarization will persist.