Reduce taxes on LPG to increase patronage – OMCs to Gov’t

The Association of Oil Marketing Companies is calling on government to reduce taxes on Liquified Petroleum Gas  (LPG) to make it cheaper and more accessible for Ghanaians as the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) seeks to fully roll out the Cylinder Re-circulation Policy.

The policy, which is aimed at reducing and possibly eliminating LPG-related accidents and fatalities, also seeks to improve the current LPG usage in the country from 25 percent to 50 percent by the year 2030.

Delivering a speech in Koforidua on the new Liquefied Petroleum Gas Promotion Policy as part of the NPA’s nationwide sensitization tour, the Chief Executive of the Association, Kwaku Agyeman Duah said a reduction in the taxes is the best way forward.

“We have been involved in discussions to determine what is in for us, and even though it is taking time, we believe it will be a win-win situation. And I’m happy to say that we are making progress.

“The second thing we need to get our heads on is the pricing of LPG. Even Burkina Faso, who pass their LPG through Ghana, have a cheaper price than us. So we would like to plead with Government to remove the taxes on LPG so that it will encourage more people to patronize it.”

The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in the mid-year budget review announced an upward adjustment in a number of taxes in the hope of raising more revenues to execute government's programmes and policies.

Appearing before the legislature, Mr. Ofori-Atta stated that government is proposing an upward adjustment in a few levies including the Road Fund Levy, the Energy Debt Recovery Levy; and the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy to bring the ratios close to twenty-one percent to help bridge the financing requirements.

“Government proposes to increase the Energy Sector Levies by GHp 20 per litre for petrol and diesel and GHp 8 per kg for LPG, so as to increase the inflows to enable Government issue additional bonds to pay down our energy sector debt obligations. Based on current indicative prices for petrol and diesel this translates to GHp 90 per gallon,” he said.