Ghanaians should brace themselves for higher fuel prices in the near future, according to the Institute for Energy Security (IES).

The anticipated increase is attributed to rising global market prices and the depreciation of the cedi.

Despite crude oil currently being priced at $84 per barrel, concerns arise over the potential for prices to surge to $100 per barrel due to escalating tensions in the Middle East.

In an interview with JoyNews, Nana Amoasi VII, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security, highlighted the potential implications of this development on struggling economies like Ghana. He predicts that within the next few weeks, the prices of diesel and petrol could soar to ¢18 per liter at the pumps.

"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.

Abass Ibrahim Tasunti, the Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), emphasized that the authority is unable 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."

Meanwhile, the transport unions are in discussions with the Transport Ministry regarding potential fare increases in response to recent fuel price adjustments.

Samuel Amoah, Deputy Public Relations Officer with the GPRTU, stated that drivers are proposing a 30 percent increment.