Adnan Adams Mohammed
The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has called on the government to pay closer attention to fuel pricing to ensure stability and prevent excessive increases that burden consumers.
Consumers concerns are rife in the wake of three consecutive fuel price hikes since the beginning of the year, followed by a price reduction in the second pricing window of February.
The latest decrease in fuel prices has been attributed to factors such as drop in global crude oil prices among others.
This comes as the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has introduced a minimum price threshold for petrol, diesel, and LPG to prevent aggressive price undercutting. Effective February 16 to 28, OMCs and LPGMCs are to adhere to the newly established price floor.
To this effect, petrol and diesel will trade at no less than GH₵12.56 and GH₵13.45 per litre, respectively, while liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be priced at a minimum of GH₵14.26 per kilogram.
According to the NPA, the directive seeks to ensure pricing transparency and long-term market sustainability. Companies that fail to comply face regulatory sanctions, as authorities work to prevent market distortions that could threaten industry stability.
Duncan Amoah, Executive Secretary of COPEC believes the government must implement measures to help mitigate sharp increases in the future as cost of fuel has a direct impact on transportation fares, inflation, and overall economic activity.
“If anybody will be able to function within the economic space, fuel will play a very vital role. So for us, whatever importance a government attaches to fuel, it attaches to its own economic indexes. We think this government would have to focus a lot on fuel pricing because the moment that goes up, transport operators will definitely demand for their pound of flesh.
“The market women will start reducing balls of kenkey. Everything will start getting smaller and smaller simply because prices of fuel have gone higher and higher. The is a natural effect on the economy and I think that the government will need to pay a lot of attention to fuel pricing going forward,” he told Citi Business News.
Duncan Amoah has also been calling for decisive action to curb the depreciation of the Cedi, which often offsets reductions in fuel prices when global petroleum prices decline.
Prices at the pumps for the first time this year dropped in the second pricing window of February.
Total Energies reduced the price of both petrol and diesel to GHȼ15.99 per litre, down from GHȼ16.15 in the first pricing window of February.
Notably, the OMC had maintained its price at GH¢16.15 while other OMCs increased theirs in the first pricing window of February.
Shell has also reduced the price of diesel to GHȼ15.99 per litre, down from GHȼ16.09 in the first pricing window of February. The price of petrol has also dropped from GHȼ 16.23 to GHȼ15.89 per litre in the second pricing window of the month.
