The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC-Ghana), Duncan Amoah has asked government to put measures in place to cushion Ghanaians from the continuous increase of fuel prices.
He says oil marketing companies are going to experience a ‘minimum of 13 pesewas upward adjustment in our pump prices’ if the National Petroleum Authority does not intervene
“What is keeping some of the oil marketing companies in waiting has to do with the NPA’s price stability and recovery levy which sometimes reduces even to zero in order to accommodate some of these increases when they have to come . . . we at COPEC are waiting on whether NPA direct that the stabilization and recovery levy should ease down completely for which some of the oil companies may decide to stay prices. If that does not happen, by the close of day, first thing tomorrow morning a lot of these oil marketing companies will be seeing a minimum of about 13 pesewas upward adjustment in our pump prices and that is what it means for the Ghanaian petrol consumer,” he noted.
According to him, “if prices continue to go up as we’ve seen on the international market, the month of February may be a very difficult month in the lives of consumers and we think that the government still has a very huge role to play to ensure that whatever pricing formula that is in use today would reflect the pockets of Ghanaians and not the US turf war with any other country . . . there’s still remain a lot to be done; unfortunately very little has been done.”
Speaking in an interview on Class FM, Duncan Amoah reiterated the need for there to be a national dialogue on fuel pricing in the country . . . "the current pricing formula that seems problematic; that seems to only point upwards is still in play that means anytime there’s a trigger on the world market, the ordinary Ghanaian may pay the price . . . that clearly we cannot sustain as a country”
“The days ahead don’t look too good because you still have the world market indexes going up because of the feud with Venezuela . . . once the supply side suffers, you will expect that prices will naturally go up; so if you don’t do anything immediately, what it will mean by close of day tomorrow is that all the pumps are likely to go up by at least some 13 pesewas difference . . . If nothing is done about our current pricing dynamics or formula in the country, the days and weeks ahead could be very challenging . . . a national dialogue is needed to address these issues,” he added.
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