The Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) is advocating for a daily adjustment of petroleum prices in the country.
ACEP is of the view that the bi-weekly review of prices by the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs) and the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) is not helping consumers of the products.
Addressing a news conference on Monday, the Executive Director at ACEP, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam said a daily review of prices will reduce the anxiety in the system.
[contextly_sidebar id=”XUSzBZcWI1c27hYb58wD3K3xzxi7er6Z”]“There should be daily adjustment and the reasons we are giving are very cogent,” he said.
According to him, if the adjustments are done bi-weekly, the OMCs and BDCs use the average exchange rate and in a situation where there is a lot of depreciation, “that means that the average exchange rate in terms of depreciation is going to be higher.”
Dr Amin Adam however pointed out that if the daily depreciation is taken into consideration, it is often insignificant “and therefore, if you see the effect of daily depreciation in prices, it will not be biting as when they are to take the average bi-weekly depreciation of the cedi in determining their adjustment.”
With the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) washing its hands off the pricing of petroleum products, there seem to be apprehension among consumers.
The NPA has given the assurance that the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector, it will give room for competition which will benefit Ghanaians and also relieve government of paying subsidies.
The Authority has also promised to strictly monitor the OMCs and the BDCs to ensure Ghanaiand are not cheated in the pricing of petroleum products.
Since the deregulation began in June this year, there has been two price increments.
In June, petroleum prices were increased by 4% and in July, it went up by 15% and the increment was attributed to the cedi depreciation against major trading currencies.
But on Monday however, the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors announced that Ghanaians should expect a 15% reduction in the prices of petroleum products.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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