Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare has said businesses must reduce prices once the economic conditions that forced them up have improved, warning that failure to do so damages public confidence in the private sector.
Addressing business leaders at the 10th CEO Summit 2026, Ofosu-Adjare acknowledged that price hikes can be unavoidable during crises such as currency depreciation, supply chain disruptions, energy shortages, and pandemics.
However, she said it is “unacceptable” for companies to keep charging crisis-era prices after operating costs fall.
“Businesses that continue to charge crisis-era prices despite reductions in operating costs risk undermining public confidence and damaging the reputation of the private sector,” Ofosu-Adjare stated.
She pointed to recent declines in fuel prices and easing inflation, saying consumers rightly expect those improvements to reflect in the cost of goods and services.
The Minister warned that holding prices high when conditions stabilize could erode public trust, fuel social dissatisfaction, and weaken confidence in a competitive, self-regulating private sector.
“If you raised prices because of a genuine emergency, the ethical obligation and reputational imperative is to bring them back down when that emergency passes,” she told CEOs.
Ofosu-Adjare appealed to the moral conscience of business leaders to balance profitability with fairness and social responsibility.
She added that the private sector’s role in Ghana’s economic development hinges on public confidence, which can only be sustained if companies exercise pricing power responsibly and with accountability to consumers.
