If the prediction by the Institute of Energy Security (IES) is anything to by, then prices will go up by at least 7 percent for the second pricing window in September.

Citi Business News’ checks indicate that, the prices of petroleum products have been increasing marginally from August till now.

This has been triggered by the marginal depreciation of the cedi, as well as increased global crude oil prices due to the recent floods in the US which affected production at major oil companies.

The Principal Research Analyst at the Institute of Energy Security, Richmond Rockson, in explaining the phenomenon, said “We are expecting prices to rise between seven and ten percent, and this will have an impact on consumers. This probably will be the most significant. The cedi also keeps depreciating. After the storm Harvey, refineries were affected so prices will definitely go up”.

Petroleum prices increase by 3 percent on the average

An analysis of the first seven months of 2017, shows that the prices of petroleum products have gone up five times out of the fourteen pricing windows in the period.

The year started with perhaps the highest percentage rise in prices of petroleum products. The prices of petrol and diesel went up by as much as 7.73% and 6.68% respectively.

This continued until March 15^th, when the prices started to drop marginally.

Although the year begun with a litre of petrol and diesel selling at 4 cedis 4 pesewas, and 3 cedis 99 pesewas respectively, as at the middle of March, the price for the same quantity each of petrol and diesel had gone up to 4 cedis 30 pesewas, and 4 cedis 25 pesewas respectively.

In all, the first four months of 2017 witnessed an average increase in prices of 3 percent.

At the time, industry watchers attributed the development to the decision by oil producing countries to hold back production in January in order to recoup some of their recent losses.

In addition was the cedi’s depreciation against the dollar coupled with drop in combined stock of Gasoline and Gasoil from about 130 to 120 thousand metric tonnes.

Declining petroleum price margins for 2017

Meanwhile, the prices of petroleum products began declining from the second pricing window in March, which spanned 16^th to 31^st March 2017.

Of the nine times that petroleum prices have been declining, the highest rate of decline in petroleum prices has been in the second pricing window in March where prices dropped by almost 4 percent .

But prices of diesel recorded the highest decline of about 3 percent in the subsequent pricing window spanning 1^st to 15^th April, 2017.

In each of these cases, the drop in the global oil prices due to a rise in U.S. shale production as well as the relative stability of the cedi accounted for the drop.

On the average, prices have dropped by 1.46 percent between January and July 2017.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post Fuel prices increase by 3% average in 2017 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Transport operators have been advised to comply with the new fares, and “post the fare list at their loading terminals so as to avoid any confrontation with the travelling public.”

The statement further asked Ghanaians to cooperate with the implementation of the new fares.

These new fares come at a time when the new government has reduced the Special petroleum tax rate from 17.5 percent to 15 percent; and also abolished duty on the importation of spare parts.

The new fares cover the following types of road transport operations:

Intracity (Trotro)

Intercity (Long Distance)

Taxi Cabs

The increment comes days after the Transport Fare Review Committee of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), asked all commercial drivers and transport owners to maintain the current transport fares until further notice.

The directive was issued after it emerged that some commercial drivers had increased their fares.

The Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) General Secretary, Andrews Kwakye, told Citi News that the increment was illegal, saying “the practice is that, we come out with the official price of the road transport office. All that is happening in the system means that they [the new fares] are all illegal. They were not supposed to increase their fares without our consent.”

Transport fares are largely reviewed due to increases in the cost of petroleum products, cost of spare parts and insurance for vehicles among others.

The recent increase in fuel price in January 2017, was about 11%.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Transport fares up by 15% from Thursday appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A 64kg bag of cocoa, previously sold at Gh¢425, will now be sold at GHc475.00, an 11.76% increase, representing a 77.45% increment of the net of the FoB [Free on Board].

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Ato Casseil Forson made the announcement at the celebration of the International Cocoa Day at Tepa, in the Ahafo Ano North District of the Ashanti region, under the theme, “Transforming the cocoa sector for economic growth- The role of the youth.”

The Minister, who doubles as the Chairman of Producer Price Review Committee, said the new price takes effect from October 1, 2016.

According to Mr. Forson, “last year, the average FoB per tonne of cocoa sold was US$2,900, and this year the average FoB is $2,950 per tonne. The producer price of cocoa has been reviewed from ¢6,800 per tonne to ¢7,600 pee tonne for 2016/2017.”

The Deputy Minister assured the farmers that, “government shall continue the Stabilization Fund with annual contributions from the FoB price as a risk mitigation mechanism against declines in international cocoa prices.”

He said government will “continue with the fund so as to be able to cushion farmers, should the world market price begin to decline as we move into the future.”

Meanwhile, some farmers of Cocoa in the Ashanti Region, present at the celebration, have expressed disappointment in government over the increase, saying it did not meet  their expectation.

They said they had expected an increase from the current ¢425.00 of one 64kg bag to over ¢500.00.

According to them, their expenses still outweigh their gains.

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By: Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t increases producer price of cocoa by 11% appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.