BoG must give special forex concessions to fuel importers to mitigate

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is proposing that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) should give concessionary dollar rates to fuel importers in Ghana.

COPEC believes this will go a long way to mitigate the constant hike in the price of fuel in the country.

Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah stated that “we have requested for the BoG to treat fuel imports with a certain urgency in order that we don’t misalign the Ghanaian budget and economy altogether. Full importers would need so many dollars to pay suppliers, but because the BoG is not able to guarantee them the dollar, they also have to go to the open market and source for dollars.”

There has been a lot of talk about the constant hike in the price of fuel since the start of the year.  Prices at the pump started at a little over GH¢4 a litre but are now 10 pesewas shy of hitting the GH¢7.

The sporadic increase has been blamed on a number of issues, including the jump in prices on the world market.

A barrel of oil that sold for less than 50 dollars a barrel in January currently sells for about 75 dollars per barrel, after having crossed the 85 dollar mark in late October.

The depreciation of the Cedi against the dollars also plays a role in the narrative, and the Chamber of Petroleum consumers believes the Bank of Ghana must begin giving special forex provisions for importers of fuel into the country to help control the price of the commodity at the pumps.

As part of efforts to check the hike in the price of fuel, President Akufo-Addo granted permission to the National Petroleum Authority to zero the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levies on petroleum products for two months.

NPA stated that measures were underway to implement the directive on November 1.

Despite this reduction, the price on the market continues to go up, with the current prices at the pump standing at GH¢6.99.

COPEC had in October 2021 indicated that fuel prices could hit GH¢7 a litre soon if the government does not take pragmatic steps to address the issue.