A fuel attendant at the petrol station
The Chamber for Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is projecting an increase in the prices of petrol and diesel from today, Friday June 16, 2023.
However, the Chamber said the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is expected to remain the same.
This will be the first consecutive time since petrol and diesel prices went up at the beginning of June 2023.
According to COPEC, the expected increase in petrol and diesel prices is largely due to a 4.16 per cent depreciation of the cedi to the dollar in the last two weeks.
“Crude price has seen a decline from the mean price of $76.04 per barrel to $75.46 per barrel (-0.76%), but the forex or dollar exchange rate has gently increased from a previous average of 11.3394 to 11.8111 (4.16%) per $1”, it pointed out.
COPEC explained that the price of petrol will sell on the average at GH¢12.21 per litre, whilst diesel will go for GH¢12.27 per liter.
LPG is expected to sell at GH¢10.40 per kilogramme. Thus for a 14.5 kilogramme of LPG cylinder, the price will go for GH¢150.85.
Government urged to reduce taxes on LPG
COPEC is therefore urging government to reduce taxes on LPG or subsidise the price of the commodity to promote or encourage its nationwide accessibility and usage which will eventually help save the environment.
In addition, currently, the total taxes and levies is about 25% of the retail prices of petrol and diesel.
COPEC is thus advocating for reduction or removal of some of the fuel taxes to lessen the burden on consumers.