Duncan Amoah, the Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), has warned that petroleum product prices may continue to rise over the next two to three months.
This follows gradual increases in fuel prices at the pumps by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), ranging from 3% to 8%.
Analysts attribute this hike to the increase in crude oil prices on the international market, the depreciation of the cedi against the dollar in recent weeks, and adjustments in levies and margins by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
Mr Amoah cautioned that current projections suggest the upward trend is likely to persist.
“Projections out there as far as international market pricing is concerned doesn’t look as though prices are going to cool off anytime soon. So, we may be here for about two, three months before any cooling would happen,” he said on Starr Today, on Friday, February 16, 2024.
Duncan Amoah has urged the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to intervene in addressing the depreciation of the cedi to help stabilize fuel prices.
“That is why I’ve indicated that the bank of Ghana would need to sit and position, so that the local current does not suffer any ceded battery. If you were stable, whatever the international market pricing throws at us will be something minimal. But if the city also gets wobbly and dances a very bad dance, then we could be in for some additional increments by March, by April, by May.”
“But that again would depend on whether the Bank of Ghana goes to sleep or it wakes up to his fiduciary responsibility of ensuring that the currency is stable”, he said.