By The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has indicated that Ghanaians should brace themselves for higher fuel prices in the near future.
This is attributed to the rise in world market prices and the depreciation of the cedi.
Despite crude oil currently being priced at $84 per barrel, concerns are growing that escalating tensions in the Middle East could drive the price of the product to $100 in the near future.
Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security, conveyed to JoyNews that such developments will pose challenges for economies like Ghana.
He anticipates that fuel prices at the pump could potentially reach ¢18 for diesel and petrol within the upcoming weeks.
“What we see is that within the next six weeks, prices or international prices will go up and so we will be hit domestically. We also know that the cedi is not performing well against the dollar, the importing currency. That forex exposure will also hit us domestically.
“We also know that government may not be willing to reduce taxes and levies on fuel so we are not expecting any reduction in the coming six weeks. So we can project that prices of gasoline, LPG and gas oil may not drop in the next six weeks,” he said
Addressing this matter, Abass Ibrahim Tasunti, Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), emphasized that the authority lacks the authority to intervene in the pricing of petroleum products.
“NPA does not regulate the prices. We don’t tell the marketers that set your price at so and so. It is influenced by these key factors; the world market price, the exchange rate and then the margin that they set. Taxes are also part of the price.
“They know very well that taxes on petrol have not been increased but the prices of petrol are going up because of the world market price. All the petroleum products come from crude oil so once the crude oil price is going up, it affects all of them.”
In the meantime, different transport unions are in discussions with the Transport Ministry regarding proposals to raise fares in response to recent changes in fuel prices.
According to Samuel Amoah, Deputy Public Relations Officer with the GPRTU, drivers are suggesting a 30 percent increase.
“In January, the leadership came up with an increment of 20 per cent of which the Ministry said we did not use the right procedure to increase the fares.
“We had a meeting and put everything on paper so the 20 per cent negotiation started in January and even by then the fuel price was not where it is now.
“The 20 per cent that we came up with, we considered the cost of spare parts, cost of lubricant, taxes, insurance and DVLA taxes. Those were the components that we used.
“Now, last Wednesday there was an increase in the prices of fuel. On Thursday there was an increase again and even today we are not looking at 20 per cent again, we are looking at around 30 per cent.
“We think if we are increasing the fares by that margin it will support us a little bit for us to keep on running our services. So we expect the Transport Ministry to come into agreement with us”.
However, the Public Relations Officer of the Concerned Drivers Association, David Agboado, mentioned that his faction is advocating for a 20 percent increase in fares.
