From all indications, the prices of fuel will see a further rise in the coming days hence the need for the government to be proactive and not leave the measures in the hands of the market players themselves, Energy Analyst and CEO of Euroka Energy Solutions, Dr Yussif Sulemana has said.
To that end, he has asked the government to take pragmatic steps to address the rising cost of fuel in the country.
Dr Yusfif Sulemana was speaking on the upward adjustment in prices of fuel. GOIL adjusted its prices of petrol and diesel selling at GH¢14.15 per litre and GH¢14.74 per litre respectively.
This was on the back of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) reversing its decision to suspend the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL) on the price build-up of petroleum products.
In a letter dated April 3, 2024, and copied to various stakeholders in the oil marketing and distribution industry, the regulator [NPA] directed them to apply 16 pesewas per litre of Petrol, 14 pesewas per litre of Diesel and 14 pesewas on every Kg per Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Speaking on the News Central on TV3 Friday April 5, Dr Yusif Sulemana said “The pump prices have started picking up and if you look at the dynamics that are accountable for the pump prices that we are having, we just need to have some interventions of a sort.
“Though our market is deregulated but if you are going to leave it to the market forces to be able to stem the tide then it is going to be VERY difficult to the consumer because if you look the factors accounting for what we have now the factors are rife and are here to say for some time so there are high time we take pragmatic steps or proactive store to make the intervention.
“What are the factors? the international dynamics are huge and there is actually no end in sight. we have huge geopolitical influences that are coming to play. The Middle East crisis between Israel and Hamas on the one hand, which has actually escalated. Now we are looking at containment measures. what analysts were preventing was escalation but unfortunately, we have escalation so we need containment measures. On top of it we have Russian war premium coming up again. Between Russia and Ukraine, I think we have their energy infrastructure being targeted. While Russia’s Energy infrastructure being targeted will have huge repercussions and that is what is happening.
“As we are talking now we have about a million barrels of petroleum products locked up on the market because of limited refinery capacity from Russia so all these factors in addition to our local currency wobbling at this point in time, no so strong, and the huge amount of taxes that are put on price build-up. So you can see that there is no escape for the consumer.
“I can only say that the inevitable has become inescapable for the consumer and that is how come we are calling on the government to take pragmatic steps steps not because the government loves the consumer but the fact that if we leave it for the market forces to stem the tide, we will burn out the market, we can’t arrest the inflation. There is very possibility that crude oil prices could rise further and so the high time we had the intervention the better.”