Brace for 4% increase in fuel prices starting July 16 – COPEC

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has forecasted a 4% hike in petroleum product prices effective Tuesday, July 16, 2024.

COPEC reports that retail prices for Petrol, Diesel, and LPG are set to rise due to the cedi's further depreciation against the dollar, shifting from $1:GHS15.2779 to $1:GHS15.462 (-1.205%).

Duncan Amoah, COPEC's Executive Secretary, outlined expected price changes: Petrol to GHS14.795/L, Diesel to GHS15.332/L, and LPG to GHS16.205/kg, with a 14.5 kg cylinder reaching GHS234.97.

COPEC urges the government to cut taxes or subsidize LPG to boost accessibility and protect the environment.

Read COPEC's statement below;

CHAMBER OF PETROLEUM CONSUMERS – (COPEC)

ACCRA

13 July 2024

PETROLEUM PRODUCT PRICES EXPECTED TO GO UP ACROSS PUMPS BY 4% IN THE NEXT WINDOW, BEGINNING 16 JULY 2024

Analysis of Projection

Barring any unforeseen last-minute major changes in global Petroleum FOB prices, indications across the downstream Petroleum market are that, the pump retail prices of all three products Petrol, Diesel and LPG, will go up effective Tuesday, 16th of July, primarily due to further depreciation of the cedi relative to the dollar rate from an average of $1:GHS15.2779 to $1:GHS15.462P ( -1.205%) in the next retail pricing Window, beginning 16 July 2024.

The following will constitute the projected mean retail prices for Petroleum products to within ±5% of COPEC’s projection starting from Tuesday, 16 July 2024.

Petrol .. GHS14.795/L

Diesel .. GHS15.332/L

The Mean Price for Petrol and Diesel..GHS15.064/L

LPG.. GHS16.205/kg

PETROL

With the international price increasing from $816.61/MT to $843.00/MT (3.23%), the retail price works up to GHS14.795/L

Thus, the retail price of Petrol is expected to increase by 3.75% of the current mean pump retail price of GHS14.26/L, to close selling between GHS14.06/L and GHS15.53/L, within ±5% range of COPEC’s projected figure of GHS14.795/L.

DIESEL

With the International FOB price increasing from $788.32/MT to $792.32/MT (1.80%), the projected mean retail pump price for the next window shall be GHS15.332L

Diesel is expected to increase in price by about 4.69% of the current mean pump retail price of GHS14.64/L to be selling between GHS14.57/L and GHS16.10/L, within ±5% range of COPEC’s projected figure of GHS15.332/L.

Mean Price of Petrol and Diesel

The mean price of petrol and diesel for the coming window per available parameters shall be GHS15.064/L. The mean price is expected to increase by 4.23% over the current mean price of GHS14.45/L with a mean pump retail price range of GHS14.31/L to GHS15.82/L, within ±5% of COPEC’s projection.

LPG

With the international FOB price increasing from $477.80/MT to $536.11/MT (12.20%) the projected retail price of LPG is expected to be average at GHS16.205/kg.

Thus, within ±5% error, LPG is expected to be selling between _GHS15.39/kg and GHS17.01/ kg.

Remarks:

1. COPEC maintains that government must do all it can to reduce taxes on LPG or to subsidize the price of LPG to promote and encourage its nationwide accessibility and usage which will eventually help save the environment from further degradation by the use of firewood.

2. Currently, the total taxes and levies on retail prices of Petrol and Diesel are about 22.56%

COPEC is requesting for the reduction of tax rates or to take off some of the fuel taxes to lessen the burden on consumers.

Alternatively, a formula can be adopted to vary the total levies with changes in the dollar: Cedi rate.

3. We further appeal to the government not to relent in getting the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) back on stream in order to avoid or reduce the importation of finished products, with associated fuel contamination.

Signed.

Duncan Amoah.

Executive Secretary.

Source:MyjoyOnline.com