Removal of Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy likely to take effect from November – NPA

• Parliament will have to resume before the removal of PSRL will take effect

• The House is currently on recess

• Petrol and diesel are selling at GH¢6.80 at some pumps in the country as of October 16

The implementation for the removal of the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy (PRSL) of two petrol, diesel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is likely to take effect from November this year.

This is the indication given by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

Head of Communications at the NPA, Mohammed Abdul-Kudus explained the removal is expected to move ahead once Parliament resumes from recess to give the all-clear.

“What it means now is that the next opportunity for the removal of the levies if Parliament gives the all-clear will be from 1st November. That will be the next pricing window, which covers the first two weeks of November. All things being equal, we can by then take it out of the price build-up equation, which would mean that the prices the OMC’s will quote from then on will be exclusive of the PSRL,” Abdul-Kudus told Citi Business News.

“The two-month calculation will be from the time the removal takes effect. It’s a free market out there, so you should expect different prices for the different OMC’s depending on the margins the OMCs decide to apply,” he added.

Government through the NPA on October 11, 2021, granted approval for the removal of PRSL on petrol, diesel, and LPG for two months. The move according to the government is to mitigate the impact of petroleum price build-up on the market.

Meanwhile, some experts in the petroleum sector have called on the government to remove a number of petroleum taxes in order to ensure price stability and cushion consumers.

Prices of petrol and diesel have increased in the second pricing window from October 16, 2021, and are selling at GH¢6.80 per litre at some pumps in the country.

On the global market, prices of oil have hit its highest level in years on Monday, October 18, 2021.

Brent crude oil futures rose 63 cents, or 0.7%, to US$85.49 a barrel by 0645 GMT, after hitting a session high of US$86.04, the highest price since October 2018.