The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has cautioned that fuel prices will continue to surge in the coming weeks if the depreciation of the cedi against the dollar is not addressed.
The Chamber blamed the recent marginal increments in fuel prices on the depreciation of the local currency and predicted that fuel prices were likely to go up again at the pumps by the end of the week.
Mr. Duncan Amoah, Executive Secretary to COPEC, called for an urgent action to halt a further depreciation of the cedi to stabilize prices at the pumps, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency,
“If the cedi is still not showing strength and still depreciating, there is a greater tendency that you will pay more for fuel at the pumps…it is likely prices will go up again,” Mr. Amoah said.
In the February 2024 fuel price went up at an average of GHS0.45 per liter for petrol and GHS0.30 per liter for diesel. LPG increased by GHS0.65 per kilogram.
Prices went up again in the March 2024 First Pricing Window. Currently, petrol is selling at an average GHS 13.49 per liter and GHS14.49 for diesel.
The Institute of Energy Security (IES) attributed the increment in prices to the depreciation of the cedi against the dollar.
COPEC said the Government’s gold for oil programme is not a sustainable intervention to address the forex factor that contributed to increment in fuel prices.
Mr. Amoah said the policy only covered about 20 per cent of total consumption and that meant that larger percentage of the market relied on dollars to import petroleum products into the country.
The Government said the move was intended to reduce the demand for dollars for the importation of petroleum products and by extension reduce the rate of depreciation of the Cedi.
It is estimated that the country required about $400m to import petroleum products monthly – out of which the Bank of Ghana is able to supply only $120m to petroleum importers.
