• Parliament is yet to look at the legislation before it in this respect
• Some drivers say this is having a huge toll on them
Calls have been made on the government to speed up work on the legislative processes to enable the removal of the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levies (PSRL) on petrol, diesel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Last month, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), announced that effective November 1, 2021, there will be a scrapping of the PSRL to mitigate the impact of rising prices of petroleum products on the world market on consumers.
According to a report by ghanaiantimes.com.gh, the purpose of the PSRL is to stabilize consumer prices and to pay for the subsidies on Premix Fuel and Residual Fuel Oil (RFO).
By this, PSRL, which is currently 16 pesewas per litre (GHp16/Lt) on petrol, 14 pesewas per litre (GHp14/Lt) on diesel, and 14 pesewas per kilogram (GHp14/Kg) on LPG, would not be applied for the period.
This, the report added, will thereby reduce the price of the aforementioned products to cushion consumers but this removal is yet to be operationalized as the legislation before parliament is yet to be passed.
“I heard the component of levy taken off is very minimal. But it is the first step toward making sure fuel prices are affordable for all of us,” Kwaku Aidoo, a commercial bus driver, said.
He and other colleagues of his added that the current prevailing economic conditions were harsh on the citizenry and it was imperative the government took the hard approach to cushion Ghanaians.
A statement by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and dated October 11, 2021, said the approval for the zero PSRL was given by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following the advice of the NPA to the Ministry of Energy to seek government’s intervention to mitigate the impact of rising prices of petroleum products on the world market on consumers.
“The outlook of prices on the global market shows an upward trend and therefore there was the need to seek government’s intervention to lower the levies to cushion consumers from feeling the full impact of these rising prices,” the statement said.
Prices of crude oil and refined petroleum products have sharply surged on the global market due to a rise in demand of oil globally without a corresponding increase in supply, making this decision by the government an even more timely one.
Because the pricing of petroleum products in Ghana is deregulated, changes in prices of petroleum products on the world market have a direct impact on prices at the pumps.
Mustapha Hamid is the CEO of the National Petroleum Authority