Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has suggested that prices of petroleum products may continue to rise over the next two to three months. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) gradually increased the prices of fuel at the pumps by between 3% to 8%.

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Analysts attribute this increase to the rise in crude prices on the international market, the fall of the cedi against the dollar in recent weeks, and adjustments in levies and margins by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Mr Amoah cautioned that projections indicate the upward trend is likely to continue.

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“Projections out there as far as international market pricing is concerned doesn’t look as though prices are going to cool off anytime soon. So, we may be here for about two, three months before any cooling would happen,” he said on Starr Today, on Friday, February 16, 2024.Duncan Amoah has called on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to address the depreciation of the cedi in order to help stabilize fuel prices.

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“That is why I’ve indicated that the bank of Ghana would need to sit and position, so that the local current does not suffer any ceded battery. If you were stable, whatever the international market pricing throws at us will be something minimal. But if the city also gets wobbly and dances a very bad dance, then we could be in for some additional increments by March, by April, by May.

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”“But that again would depend on whether the Bank of Ghana goes to sleep or it wakes up to his fiduciary responsibility of ensuring that the currency is stable”, he warned.Duncan Amoah has raised concerns about the National Petroleum Authority's (NPA) decision to increase the BOST margin.

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While he acknowledged that some other levy adjustments may be justifiable, Amoah questioned the rationale behind adding 3 pesewas to the margin of a profitable company like BOST, describing it as perplexing.“The only challenge we’ve had with what the recent move has been simply has to do with the BOST margin that has gone up.

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We are asking if indeed BOST as a profit-making entity that has declared profit the past three years, will still need to collect more from the public? That we continue to disagree with,” he added.

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