Duncan Amoah
THE CHAMBER of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has appealed to Government to review the price build-up of petroleum products so as to ease the impact of the constant hikes on Ghanaians.
It said this has become necessary because fuel prices at the pump could hit GH¢7 a litre soon especially if the government does not institute measures to control it.
Duncan Amoah, Executive Secretary of COPEC, who spoke to journalists in Accra, indicated that “Fuel is now threatening to get to almost GH¢7 a litre. Currently, some major firms are trading at over GH¢6.50 and so any other increases that may come in subsequent days or weeks may push the price per litre to GH¢7. That is woeful.”
“The government projection for 2021 is $57.8 per barrel for our crude exports. Crude has hit above $80 as we speak. So in the plus and minus game, the government is even making far more than it had projected within its budget.”
“Yet the taxes that we enforced on the trotro drivers at 46 pesewas when crude was $30, we are still collecting it today when crude has gone up by more than an additional $50. This is bad and the earlier the Finance Minister and authorities decide to sit and look at the tax structure on our fuel prices; the better it will be for all of us.”
Currently, oil price on the international market is over $80 dollars a barrel, after starting the year at a little over the $50 mark.
But with the reopening of economies across the world due to the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, demand for fuel has experienced a sharp climb.
Earlier in the year, the government as part of its revenue mobilisation drive introduced some levies and taxes in the 2021 budget, a move many criticised.
The taxes are the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1068), Financial Sector Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1067) and the Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1064).
Such taxes coupled with the constant hike in oil prices on the global market have accounted for the increase in prices at the pumps.
Already, a multinational investment bank and financial services company, Goldman Sachs Group, is projecting global prices may hit $90 a barrel in the near future.