The Head of Pricing at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Abass Ibrahim Tasunti has assured Ghanaians that prices fuel will reduce in the next pricing window in December 2021.
Fuel Price hikes to cease
According to him, the NPA has monitored the international market and it is without a doubt that prices of petroleum products will fall which will lead to the reduction of fuel prices in the domestic market. Ghanaians will therefore have a breather in the next pricing window after months of upward adjustments of fuel prices.
“We have seen the international market and we believe prices would come down by the next pricing window. Ghanaians should thus expect price reduction in the next window,” Abass Ibrahim Tassunti said in an interview monitored by Ghana Talks Business.
Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director for the Institute for Energy Security (IES) is however of a different opinion. According to Nana Amoasi VII, Ghana does not have any internal mechanism to cushion the system. The frequent fuel price hikes are because the country is at the mercy of pricing at the international market.
“We don’t have any internal mechanism to cushion us so we have to stick to international price,;’ he said.
“Europe and the US will be going to the winter and that will demand more fuel, which may affect prices. If the trend continues, we can only expect an increment because there is no form of mitigation from the international price in Ghana,” he further explained.
Currently, a litre of petrol and diesel sells between GH¢6.90 and GH¢6.99 depending on the Oil Marketing Company (OMC) one is purchasing.
Frequent fuel price hikes are a result of poor governance and policies by the government, Nana Amoasi VII noted in a radio interview on November 23.
According to him, several variables such as the depreciation of the Cedi comes into play in setting fuel prices, which with government’s intervention can help curtail the rising prices.
“If we can and we understand how fuel prices work, the price for fuel should not sell for more than GH¢6 per litre,” he said.
Nana Amoasi VII also blamed the seven taxes and levies imposed on petroleum products in the county which has culminated to about a GH¢2 per litre.
Fuel price hikes- Reaction
Reacting to the constant fuel price hikes, members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union on Tuesday tagged their vehicles with red bands urging the government to reduce fuel prices.
Drivers have ultimately threatened to raise transport fares if the government refuses to work on their demands.
Responding to the protest, the Minister for Railway Development, John Peter Amewu has called on commercial drivers to exercise restraint and consult the transport ministry before increasing transport fares.
In an interview monitored by Ghana Talks Business, Mr Amewu explained that the government was not responsible for the persistent rise in fuel prices but the global supply and demand of crude oil as well as several other variables.
“The only single-traded international commodity is petrol. Petrol is not a regionalized commodity. It is universally priced. What affects petrol prices in other places affects us. Globally, we are out of cheap oil where oils have been recovered from lower levels. Oil prices globally keep increasing,” Mr Amewu said.
“During the COVID pandemic, crude oil was trading a bit lower because of low economic activities. Now, most of these economies are recovering from the COVID-19 and so the demand is a bit high. That alone has put some pressure on the commodity.”
The taxes on fuel can be reduced, but the point is we are crying for development. And government alone cannot develop the country. We all do. All government does is supervise the monies it gets. The only way government can do this is when citizens bring their contributions,” he further said.
Mr Amewu is therefore urging drivers to “ first discuss their intention to increase transport fares with the transport minister.”
