The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) has predicted that a litre of petrol and diesel could sell at GHS9 and GHS10 respectively from Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
According to COPEC, Ghanaians will have to buy fuel at this new high price due to the spike in crude prices on the world market, as well as the depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar.
“Free On Board prices of petrol increased by 19.28% from $917.48/MT to 1094.33/MT while diesel went up by 34.57% from $845.50/MT to $1137.78/MT and LPG by 17.42% from $845.93/MT to $993.25/MT between the first pricing window (1st to 15th March 2022) and the second window (16th to 31st March 2022).
“The petroleum price indicators as published by the NPA shows that the price of Gasoil (diesel) will increase by 30.41% from GH¢8.22 per litre in this current window to Gh¢10.721 per litre beginning 16th March 2022 and ex-pump prices of Gasoline (petrol) will increase by 18.25% from GH¢8.22 per litre to GH¢727 per litre within the same period,” the statement from COPEC said.
The Chamber also observed that cedi has plummeted by 9.71% against the dollar from GHS6.8360 to GHS 7.500.
Apart from diesel and petrol, COPEC said the ex-pump prices of LPG will also jump by 23% from GHS 9.8 per kg in this current window to GH¢12.04 per kg in the next window beginning March 16, 2022.
“This implies that a 14.5 kg [cylinder] will be sold at GHS174.58,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, members of the Concerned Drivers Association of Ghana are calling on the government to reduce the price of petrol in the country.
The drivers said the GHS8.44-mark per litre of petrol is highly abnormal and causing unbearable hardship.
The drivers opined that the frequent increase should never be justified by the government with the Russia-Ukraine war and the continuous fall of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar.
In their view, the tax component on the price of a litre of petrol is a major contributor to the “abnormal rate.”
“We strongly believe that the taxes, when removed, will aid the reduction of the price of petrol. It must be noted that one major promise of this government was to remove the taxes on petrol,” the concerned drivers noted in a statement.
