The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) said it is in talks with the Finance and Energy Ministries to find a workable solution to the rising gasoline costs.
The emphasis of the discussions, according to the report, would be on the possibility of removing certain taxes on petroleum items.
“We are also worried,” Abass Ibrahim Tasunti, Head of Pricing at the NPA, said on Eyewitness News. “There are a lot of conversations we are having with the Ministry of Energy, and we are seeing if we can make any ideas along with the Ministry of Finance.”
Petrol prices have breached the GH8 per litre level at several fuel stations in the first week of March 2022, with estimates that the commodity would retail for GH9.00 per litre by the end of the month.
However, Abass Ibrahim Tasunti believes that the issue is mostly due to current events in the global oil economy, and that the government would play a role in providing relief to individuals.
“We don’t create fiscal and economic policies for the government in terms of how we manage the gasoline business since the price is based on a global formula.” The taxes included in the formula have been authorized by Parliament. So, if any of them are to be removed, Parliament must be consulted.”
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament is calling for the urgent repeal of gasoline price-building levies that have outlived their usefulness.
It claims that these taxes account for nearly 40% of the increase in goods prices.
The minority made a compelling argument for its elimination, claiming that doing so would dramatically cut the price of gasoline and, as a result, alleviate Ghanaians who have been burdened by high product costs.
“We had a difficulty with the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah crude at the time when the global price of crude was approximately US$30, therefore output fell down.”
“That is why the Special Petroleum Tax was enacted to assist us in raising funds. We had proposed sub-clauses in the 2016 budget that this tax should be removed by 2017, and the rationale for this is that by then, we would have resolved the difficulties with the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah,” said Edward Bawah, a member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee.
In the first pricing window of March, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) predicts a 4% rise in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Diesel, and Petrol at the pumps.
In February, a barrel of Brent Crude Oil, which was about $66 a year ago and $78 at the start of 2022, increased 7.3 percent to $103.9.