By Joseph Quarm
The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has called on businesses to demonstrate ethical responsibility in their pricing decisions, particularly during and after periods of economic and global crises.
Addressing private sector leaders at the 10th CEO Summit 2026, the Minister acknowledged that price increases may sometimes be unavoidable during challenging periods such as currency depreciation, global supply chain disruptions, energy crises, and pandemics. However, she stressed that it is unacceptable for companies to maintain inflated prices once the conditions that necessitated such increases have improved.
According to her, 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. She cited examples such as falling fuel prices and easing inflation, noting that consumers expect these improvements to be reflected in the prices of goods and services.
Hon. Ofosu-Adjare warned that the failure to adjust prices downward when economic conditions stabilize could erode public trust, fuel social dissatisfaction, and weaken confidence in a competitive and self-regulating private sector.
She therefore appealed to the moral conscience of business leaders, urging them to balance profitability with fairness and social responsibility.
“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 stated.
The Minister concluded by emphasizing that the private sector’s ability to play a leading role in Ghana’s economic development depends largely on the confidence the public places in businesses. She noted that such confidence can only be sustained when companies exercise their pricing power responsibly and in a manner that reflects fairness and accountability to consumers.
