The Political Economy of Oil Marketing In Developing Countries: An Analysis of the Politics of Petroleum and Petroleum Politics in Ghana

Abstract

This article probed the politics of subsidy in developing countries.  In spite of the adoption of neoliberal policies of capitalism where production, distribution and exchange of goods and services are supposed to be in the realm of the private sphere, most developing economies are still ingrained unrepentantly in sacrificing scarce national resources meant for infrastructural development on subsidies while scavenging for loans from the International Financial Institutions for development.  This paper focuses on Ghana’s experience of the unbridled subsidies on petroleum products in spite of the striking parallels that exist between the state’s economic resources and the sustainability of petroleum subsidies. This paper argue that Ghana’s economic challenges in recent times, and its indebtedness to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are as a result of the unbridled subsidy and politicization of petroleum products since Ghana’s Fourth Republic.