Ghanaians could be paying GHS8 for a litre of fuel by 2024 – Analyst

Nana Amoasi VII, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES) expects fuel prices to continue to rise consistently if the state’s management of petroleum products does not change.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, as Ghanaians brace themselves up for new taxes on fuel, Mr. Amoasi said Ghanaians could be paying GHS8 for a litre of fuel by 2024.

“From the way things are going, international prices of crude oil will rise, we will still be importing fuel, so we will still have the foreign exposure.”

“The government still has an appetite for taxes and levies and by 2024, we will be buying a gallon of fuel for almost GHS40 compared to today's GHS24.”

Ghanaians are currently paying GHS5.4 for a litre after a steady increase from GHS4.8 in January.

Since 2015, fuel prices have doubled; from an average of GHS2.7 per litre then to GHS5.4 per litre on average currently.

Currently, the government has proposed a 5.7 percent increment in prices of petrol and diesel as part of new levies.

A new 10-pesewa Sanitation and Pollution Levy as well as a 20-pesewa levy to cater for charges on the country's excess power capacity emerged from the 2021 budget.

Mr. Amoasi cited the lack of political will from the state to shy away from taxing petroleum products.

The government finds it easy to tax fuel products because they are crucial products that most of the populace can’t do without, he added.

“They come and say they will reduce prices but when they have the opportunity, they know that okay, this is where we can claim our levies and taxes from, and they are forced to go back there and increased.”

He also noted that internal mechanisms to check the price of fuel have not been working.

“The price stabilisation levy is not working. The BOST [Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation] system is not working well and the TOR [Tema Oil Refinery] system [is also not working well].”

—citinewsroom