Board Chairman of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Henry Akwaboah has said that members of his association are unlikely to increase fuel prices as being anticipated.
“Even though prices on the world oil markets have gone up slightly, I do not foresee oil marketing companies increasing their prices during this window. At least I am not picking those signals for now.”
“But also remember that, this is a deregulated market and players are at liberty to determine their prices in a way which makes full cost recovery possible. I’m sure players in the sector will be looking at all that to determine if a price increase is appropriate at this time,” he added.
This followed an earlier indication by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), that fuel prices were expected to go up by 8 pesewas from the 17th of May 2021.
According to the chamber, this was due to an increase in prices on the international market.
Following the implementation of some new taxes introduced in the 2021 budget statement, from the 1st of May 2021, fuel prices saw an increase from GHS5.45 to GHS6.5.
The increment was met with a lot of public uproar with many lamenting its impact especially amid the economic effort of the Covid-19 pandemic.
If the increment had taken effect, it would have been the second time fuel prices are increasing this month.