The Institute of Energy Security (IES) has called on government to scrap the Special Petroleum Tax on petroleum products to make them a bit cheaper for Ghanaians.
Prices of fuel are expected to increase to about 5 cedis per litre for the second pricing window in September [September 16th to 30th].
Research Analyst at the IES, Mikdad Mohammed argued that the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy has proven to be ineffective hence the adverse effect of the increment in fuel prices on consumers could be minimal if government could scrap the Special Petroleum Tax.
“Our checks have shown that government has been utilising the fund but prices of cruel keeps going up despite that intervention, so currently the price stabilisation and recovery levy is useless in the scheme of affairs because it doesn’t help and doesn’t make any difference in the price build up. The only thing government can do now is to remove the special petroleum tax levy” he told Kweku Owusu Adjei on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM.
“The only thing the government can do in order to ensure a reduction is to remove the Special Petroleum Tax” he reiterated.
In his view, a gallon of petrol could be sold for 19 cedi per gallon if government takes away the Special Petroleum Tax, which is currently overburdening Ghanaians.
The Institute of Energy Security (IES), noted that the price of Brent crude on the world market went up by about 6 percent for the period under review.
Similarly, the prices of finished products for gasoline and gas oil went up by about 2 and 5 percent respectively.
These two developments have also contributed to the expected hike in fuel prices.
The cedi has depreciated by over 3% against the dollar for the first two weeks in September 2018.
Currently pegged at 4 cedis, 76 pesewas to a dollar on the interbank foreign exchange market, some analyst are speculating the currency will hit the 5 cedis mark soon if measures are not put in place by the government to stabilize it.
By: Kasapafmonline.com/Alex Semordzi
