The policy was to make the petroleum industry competitive
Deregulation rather increasing prices of petroleum products – COPEC
The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has said that the Petroleum Deregulation Policy is not serving its purpose.
According to him, the main objective of the policy brought to force by the government was to encourage competition in the petroleum industry and drive down prices for the benefit of consumers.
He said due to the excessive tax imposed by successive governments, the policy implemented in 2015 was ineffective because prices of petroleum products were rather increasing.
Mr Amoah, in an interview on Joy News, added that the deregulation policy has instead brought hardship on Ghanaians, especially on fuel consumers.
He stated that many factors were not considered before the deregulation policy was implemented. For the policy to be more effective, the government must consider reasonable taxes so that final prices charged at the pumps would benefit consumers.
Also, Mr Amoah said aside from the taxes, another main factor derailing the policy's effectiveness was the demand for forex.
"Those guys would need around 400 million every single month to bring in petroleum products, they would need a dollar, equivalent; so, if they are converting all of that to the dollar every single month, you think your cedi will survive; so, the cedi will depreciate, and when it does, a forex rate has to be done and added to your pump prices," he explained.
Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah