President John Dramani Mahama

President John Mahama has directed the Ministers of Finance and Energy to adopt strategies aimed at protecting Ghana’s recent economic growth amid tensions in the Middle East.

His comments come after Israel launched a preemptive attack on Iran, targeting its nuclear facilities. Iran responded by launching several missiles into Israeli territory.

The president, speaking in the North-East Region during a Thank You tour, observed that the country was not “immune” to external shocks resulting from global events.

“Recent events in the Middle East, involving an exchange of missiles between Israel and Iran, have started to escalate crude oil prices dramatically,” he said.

“I’ve asked our Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and Minister of Energy, John Jinapor, to closely monitor the developments, model the possible impact on our petroleum prices, and prepare measures to protect the recent gains we have made,” the president stated.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday after tensions escalated, prompting fears of energy supply disruptions from the Middle East.

Brent crude surged roughly 7%, settling around $74.23 per barrel after an intraday jump of over 13% to about $78.50, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed approximately 7.6–7.7%, closing between $72.98 and $73.12 per barrel.