Hundreds of commercial drivers and consumers of petroleum products are expected to hit the streets of Accra today [Wednesday], to demonstrate over what they describe as the persistent increases in the prices of petroleum products.
The demonstration, which is being organized by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) in collaboration with the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), is to force the government to reduce taxes on petroleum products.
[contextly_sidebar id=”sRhl8OiuMsOBq9jliAEebIMeuKpasfP5″]Currently, a litre of both petrol and diesel, goes for GHc4.62 at some major fuel stations.
This is despite assurances from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) that prices will remain fairly stable at the pumps.
Speaking to Citi News earlier, the Executive Director of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, called on the government to review prices of petroleum products.
“We are paying close to $5 in order to be able to get petrol to your tank. That clearly is not helping anything. We understand very well that some of the taxes were introduced as windfall taxes at the time that world market prices had dropped so low and Ghana needed a little more revenue in order to be able to cushion the world market prices that have gone down.”
“Today, the same dynamics are not at play. Unfortunately, the taxes that were introduced which should have gone by now, are still all in place. Ghana selling petrol above 20 cedis and it is still going up, it cannot be sustained. We need an immediate review of the price build up. We need some reduction. We need some stability in order to plan our spending on petroleum products in the country.”
IES predicts 2% price increase
The Institute of Energy Security (IES), had earlier predicted that prices of fuel may go up by 2 percent in the first pricing window in February, between February 2, 2018, and February 15, 2018.
The IES further attributed the development to the constant rise in crude oil prices which is currently selling at 69 dollars per barrel on the international market, among other factors.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana