The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has projected an increase in fuel prices starting from tomorrow, February 16, 2024. According to COPEC, the price of petrol may rise by 6.63%, while diesel will increase by 8.18%.
As a result, petrol is expected to be sold between GH¢12.02 and GH¢13.29 per litre, up from the previous GH¢11.87 per litre. Diesel is projected to be sold between GH¢13.21 and GH¢14.60 per litre, up from GH¢12.85 per litre.
The projected retail price of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) is expected to average at GH¢13.24 per kilogramme, within a ±5% margin of error.
These increases are attributed to the depreciation of the cedi and the rising price of finished petroleum products on the international market.
“The imminent increases are largely due to increases in price of petrol on the international market by about 1.75% whilst diesel goes up by 6.02% with crude price increasing by 1.39% from the mean price of $81.30/barrel to $82.43/barrel. The forex or dollar exchange rate has also increased by 2.16% from a previous average of GH¢12.01603 to GH¢12.4230 per $1”.
In addition to the international price changes, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has increased local taxes on petrol and diesel. The UPPF, Primary Distribution Margin (PDM), and BOST margin have been increased by 20 pesewas on a litre of petrol and diesel.
COPEC maintained that the government should desist from the practice of increasing taxes and margins on all petroleum products as it is currently doing, adding, “this practice of sneaking in tax increases on the price build up only further increases the economic pressure on Ghanaians”.