The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC), says it finds government's 15 pesewas reduction in the cost of fuel per litre disappointing.
According to the Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, his outfit was expectant of a reduction between 50-60 pesewas as a means of alleviating the current plight of Ghanaians.
“Cumulatively, we should have been looking at something between 50 and 60 pesewas. But we woke up today and heard the finance minister go into operator margins and not a single of the taxes being reduced. He simply went into operator margins and blatantly refused to reduce the taxes in these abnormal times. But here we are, we are completely detached from the stuck reality,” he said in an interview with citinews.
His statement is on the back of the announcement of measures by government to mitigate the current economic challenges experienced in Ghana.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta at a press conference on Thursday, March 24, 2022, announced what he said are various policy measures adopted by government in the face of current economic challenges.
Among other things, the minister said government, as means of mitigating rising prices of petroleum products at the pumps, will reduce the price build-up by a total of 15 pessewas for the next three months.
“To mitigate the rising price of petroleum products at the pumps, for the next three months, the government has decided to reduce margins in the petroleum price build-up by a total of 15 pesewas per litre with effect from 1st of April,” Ofori-Atta said.
“BOST margin reduced by 2 pesewas per litre, unified petroleum pricing fund margin reduced by 9 pesewas per litre, fuel markin margin reduced by 1 pesewa per litre, primary distribution margin reduced by 3 pesewas per litre. These are expected to reduce the price of petrol by 1.6 percent and diesel by 1.4 percent. We anticipate the measures taken to stabilise the currency will help further stabilise the prices at the pumps,” the finance minister stated.
But reacting to the announcement in an interview with Citi News, Duncan Amoah said based on government’s engagement with COPEC and other stakeholders, they expected a reduction of about half of the levies.
“I am afraid this is very disappointing, to say the least. We decided that some of the margins must go. The Special Petroleum Tax Levy is 46 pesewas. Even if they don’t half it; they could have given Ghanaians 23 pesewas relief without affecting so badly what they are also generating. Again, we raised the issue of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levyi
“So if at this time we are not able to get any money funds to stabilize prices, it is fair that you drop that levy which is 16 pesewas per litre or drop it by half and add it to the Price Stabilization Levy that will be about 30 pesewas already. We stated categorically that, in the face of rising cost of fuel, we do not find it coherent that you continue with Sanitation and Pollution Levy of 10 pesewas, so in the interim you can do away with it for three months and do something about the Energy Sector Levy which is about the 46 pesewas, ESLA and the other 20 pesewas”, he lamented.
Among other things, the measures, according to the minister for finance, are to address: recent rising in fuel prices, rising inflation and cost of living; exchange rate depreciation; rising interest rates; and revenue mobilization challenges.
Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah