According to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the government is attempting to find consistent, dependable sources of reasonably priced petroleum products for the Ghanaian market in order to stabilize fuel costs.
The President stated the action will “stop the growth of fuel prices and provide relief to us all” in his Sunday night economic address to the country.
Since the beginning of the year, the cost of gasoline and diesel at the pump has been steadily rising.
Currently, the average price for gasoline and diesel is GHS13.10 and GHS15.99, respectively.
In the beginning of the year, petrol and diesel was trading at an average GHS 6.8 and GHS7.0 respectively.
President Akufo-Addo said he was aware of the economic challenges occasioned by the rising cost of petroleum products, leading to increment in transport fares and price of goods and services.
“I know that the increasing cost of living is the number one concern for all of us. It is driven by fast escalating fuel prices at the pumps, which is caused by high crude oil prices on the world market and our depreciated currency. I know that this is putting intolerable pressure on families and businesses,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has projected that the price of diesel may cross the 20 Cedis mark in the next pricing window, which will commence on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.
“In IES’ estimation, Gasoil’s price per litre is set to break the GHS20.00 mark, with a gallon price possibly going for GHS90.00 on the market. Gasoline price may also inch close to GHS18 per litre by mid-November 2022,” it said in its review of the October 2022 Second Pricing Window.
The IES blamed the projected increment on the “significant” depreciation of the Cedi and the “appreciable” increase in the price of diesel on the international market.
“The Ghana Cedi depreciated by a whopping 32 per cent from the previous rate of GHS10.89 to the current rate of GHS14.42, to the US Dollar,” it said.