The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has paid GHC 200 million to the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs.)
This amount was accrued following the refusal of the Authority to reduce fuel prices at the pumps despite the fall in crude oil prices on the world market.
The NPA owes the BDCs about GHC412 million, therefore, the payment of GHC 200 million has reduced its debts by half.
[contextly_sidebar id=”yliZnYlpAcBdxMaznnZldpLrh2ZSYMhk”]Ghanaians have been demanding a drastic reduction in petroleum prices to reflect the crude oil prices on the world market.
But the NPA maintained the prices with the explanation that the excess money will be used to settle its debt with the BDCs.
On the back of this, the Minority MPs and other stakeholders had been demanding an account of the money accrued so far.
The NPA’s Director of Public Affairs, Yaro Kasambata said: “We have raised GHC 200 million from the windfall, and we have paid it to the BDCs.”
“We are just responding to public calls for disclosure on how much money has been accrued in this whole effort to pay BDC which is the reason why we have not gone lower at the pumps,” he added.
In a statement on Sunday, the NPA announced it will meet to review petroleum prices.
The new prices are expected to take effect from December 31, 2014.
According to Mr. Kasambata however, the review “is just normal, it’s routine, it’s just part of our daily operations, there is nothing so peculiar about it.”
He said the Authority put out the statement to update all consumers on what has been happening with the price and what the windfall has been with regards to the payment to the BDCs.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana