NPA rules out reduction in fuel prices
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says it will not reduce the prices of fuel, in spite of a heavy fall in the price of crude oil on the international market and the stability of the cedi against the major currencies.
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The price of crude oil has dropped from $115 to about $80 on the world market, making it the lowest in the last four years.
More so, the cedi has appreciated by about 15 per cent against the dollar in the last two months. The two scenarios buttress calls for a reduction in the prices of fuel.
But the Public Relations Officer of the NPA, Mr Yaro Kasambata, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the NPA would not reduce fuel prices.
Indebtedness to BDCs
The reason, he said, was that the NPA was indebted to the bulk oil distribution companies (BDCs) in excess of GH¢400 million, adding that the “windfall from the drop will be used to offset the debt”.
Asked whether it was the fault of consumers that the debt accumulated, Mr Kasambata said they might not have incurred the debt directly but they were the beneficiaries.
Room for discretion
He said the fact that there was an automatic price adjustment formula did not mean there was no room for the application of discretion whether to reduce fuel prices or maintain the status quo.
Asked how long it would take the NPA to clear the indebtedness to the BDCs, he said those details would be put out later.
He said the drop in the world price of crude oil was going to adversely affect Ghana as an exporter of crude, adding that revenue projections from the oil sector would be affected and Ghanaians needed to consider that fact too.
NPA is wrong
But the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr Anthony Akoto-Osei, held the view that it would be wrong for the NPA to refuse to reduce the prices of fuel.
He said the NPA’s indebtedness to the BDCs was through no fault of the ordinary Ghanaian but the mismanagement of the system by the NPA, for which the people of Ghana should not be made to suffer.
Automatic is automatic
Debunking Mr Kasambata’s assertion that an automatic adjustment formula did not mean there was no room for discretion, Dr Akoto-Osei said, “Automatic is automatic and does not imply discretion. The formula does not make room for discretion. It must be allowed to work.”
Meanwhile, a source in Lome, Togo, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that a litre of petrol was being sold at a converted value of GH¢3.28, while a litre of diesel was going for GH¢3.23.
Boom for smuggling activities?
Information gleaned from Internet sources also said the price of fuel in Togo was 15 per cent lower than the average world price.
But in Ghana, the NPA has pegged the price of a litre of petrol at GH¢3.36 and that of diesel at GH¢3.27.
A couple of months ago, there were reports of widespread smuggling of petrol from Ghana to Togo through a number of unapproved routes, but with the reversal of the situation now, there are fears that fuel could be smuggled from Togo into Ghana.