The Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (COBD) forecasts a ¢ 1 per litre reduction in petrol and diesel prices by April 1, 2022.
This comes after multiple meetings between the COBD and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and stakeholders to devise interventions targeted at lowering the costs at the various pumps.
Senyo Hosi, the Chamber’s Chief Executive, said more steps have been agreed upon and are anticipated to lower costs by Friday.
“The key thing that will really deal with the challenges we have will be the exchange rate interventions that government is looking at together with the Central Bank. Come April 1; we should be able to see a better position on petroleum prices.
“We will be looking at something close to a cedi under litre or half a cedi under a litre,” he said.
Senyo Hosi previously told JoyNews that once these steps are adopted, customers will have some relief.
“We’ve been engaging the BoG. I think they release about $160 million to the entire energy sector, so not just the BDCs. I think they did some, but not in a very structured way as we would have wanted to be done. It was very critical for the particular moment to reduce some tension,” he noted.
He said that the additional actions will aid in the “development of a system geared around the forex market to ensure that some of these interventions can cascade into lower pump prices as we currently see on the markets.”
The government announced a 0.15 cut in petroleum products this week, which commercial transportation operators rejected.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Concerned Drivers Association of Ghana, and other transport unions have expressed their dissatisfaction.
They believe they would have been better off if the government had not absorbed anything.
In an interview with JoyNews following the announcement of the decrease by the Finance Minister, GPRTU Spokesperson Imoro Abass stated that the drivers will be debating a further increase in transportation fares.
“If this is all they can do for us, I will say we are ungrateful. The ¢0.15 is woefully inadequate, so we’d have to meet and decide on which way we are going to move,” he said.
Fuel prices have risen in the last two weeks at major fuel stations around the country.
Many Oil Marketing Companies have been selling for ¢9.70, ¢9.99, and ¢11.
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SOURCE: myjoyonline
