The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is calling for a national dialogue over the pricing formula for petroleum products in the country.
This comes after a 2% fuel price increment which took effect on Saturday.
COPEC in a statement copied to citinewsroom.com said the rate at which fuel prices were being increased in the country “cannot and should not be allowed to continue as it threatens to only worsen the plight and hardships of the ordinary Ghanaian as well as having a negative impact on all other economic activities within the country.â€
Read: Fuel prices to remain stable in August—IES
It said the national dialogue with stakeholders is to create a platform for the discussion and ensure a review of the current pricing dispensation.
“We use this opportunity to call for an immediate National dialogue on these persistent but worrying increases with a stern focus on the current fuel pricing build up to discuss and review possible adjustments to find a lasting solution to this worrying trend as any further increases will be fiercely resisted,†it said.
Read the statement below:
THE NEED TO HAVE AN IMMEDIATE NATIONAL DIALOGUE IS NOW!
Ghanaian petroleum consumers have over the past 24 hours been hit with another fuel price increases.
Fuel prices across most Major Oil Marketing Companies within the country has seen a marginal increase of about 2% from previous market averages of 4.850/litre for both petrol and diesel to now 4.950/litre for both products.
What this means is that a gallon of petrol that until yesterday sold for Ghc 21.825 has now shot up to Ghc 22.275 or a variance of above 2.%.
Read: Fuel prices to go up by 3 percent
With marginal increases on world market prices over the past two weeks, most of the major importers however attribute the latest hikes to the bad performance of the local currency- the Cedi.
Ghanaian fuel pricing formulae once again comes into question as there seems no end in sight to these rampant and sustained increases.
The frequent price increases are known to result from two main factors
(I) price movements on the international market
(Ii) the performance of the Cedi.
The current global and local dynamics indeed gives little or no hope at all of the Ghanaian fuel consumer getting any reliefs in the foreseeable future with these two dynamics at play.
Whiles world market prices are projected to hover above $70/barrel with a possibility of climbing up to above $90/barrel by close of the year following from activities by OPEC and other major producing and exporting countries.
The economic activities and the over-reliance on mainly imports into the country seem not to be helping us as a country too well either as the base of the local currency seem not to be doing too well as the Cedi continues to also wobble.
Read: OccupyGhana demands whereabouts of over GH₵1bn fuel money
It thus leaves very little hope of fuel prices ever coming down to reasonable limits for the ordinary pockets as prices only seem to go up currently and is likely to continue for a very long time to come.
The levels of taxes on these products which is purely within the control of Government, also leaves very much to be desired as the taxes continue to be very high though some of the taxes have outlived their justification must be scrapped immediately.
We believe the current trend cannot and should not be allowed to continue as it threatens to only worsen the plight and hardships of the ordinary Ghanaian as well as having a negative impact on all other economic activities within the country.
We use this opportunity to call for an immediate National dialogue on these persistent but worrying increases with a stern focus on the current fuel pricing build up to discuss and review possible adjustments to find a lasting solution to this worrying trend as any further increases will be fiercely resisted
It is our belief further, that the current price deregulation programme though has its positives will also need to be reviewed to arrest the current frequent price escalations.
Signed
Duncan Amoah
Executive Secretary
CopecGhana
There have been several projections of fuel price increment over the past few months. While the increments are generally thought to be marginal, the monthly price increase over the past many months suggests a heavy financial toll on consumers.
Source:Â citinewsroom.com
