CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), Senyo Hosi has stated that fuel prices can be reduced to GH₵6.00 per litre or less.
He noted, however, that this largely depends on urgent decisions government needs to take.
“There are a number of things that don’t need to be there. The BOST margin for instance. our transportation margins are overpriced. We can easily get our price back to below 6 cedis or just at 6 cedis if we want. But these are decisions government needs to take,” he said.
Speaking on NewsFile on Saturday, December 11, 2021, Mr. Hosi, added that there would be lower fuel prices if government considers directing the Bank of Ghana to dedicate its Foreign Exchange supply to the oil sector.
He also mentioned that rationislisng our taxes could be a game-changer.
“Those pricing petrol today will be doing that with a Foreign Exchange (FX) rate of about 6.6 or 6.5 but the Bank of Ghana releases FX to the country from time to time at a rate of about 5.9 thereabouts. If government takes a policy that oil has a cascading impact on all products and the general economic life so it is directing the Bank of Ghana to dedicate its FX supply to the oil sector, we’ll be able to reduce petroleum prices from 6.7 to about 6.2,” he said.
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In addition, “we need to relook our taxes and see how we optimise it.” According to him, taxes and regulatory margin on fuel account for 2.27 on every litre.
Giving a breakdown of this figure he said 1.74 pesewas goes to tax while the remaining figure goes to the regulatory margin, which is coordinated by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and some government agencies.
He suggested that the BOST margin on petroleum prices, for instance, needs to be scrapped.
This follows the sit-down strike embarked on by drivers on December 6, 2021, and the events that followed.
Source: Joy News