The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has called on the government to withdraw the increased margins on petroleum products that will translate into an increase in prices of fuel at the pumps.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has published new increases in some margins in the Price Build-Up (PBU) of petroleum products, effective 1 May 2021.
The amended margins were made available to the various Petroleum Service Providers (PSPs) on the 29th of April 2021 and at the end of the April 2021 second pricing window. The amended margins include the BOST Margin, the Primary Distribution Margin (PDM), Fuel Marking Margin (FMM) and the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) Margin.
For the UPPF Margin, GHp3 per litre is added on all liquid products except for Premix fuel, MGO Foreign, Gasoil Mines, Gasoil Rig, plus an addition of GHp3 per kilograms on LPG. The PDM has also been increased to GHp30 per litre of Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene.
In a statement, the IES said, “these amendments in margins come to add to the introduction of the Sanitation and Pollution Levy (SPL) of GHp20 per litre of product, and the addition of GHp10 per litre on the Energy Sector Recovery Levy (ESRL)”.
IES said, “this action by government, through the National Petroleum Authority can best be described miscalculated, insensitive, careless and inconsiderate, looking at the times the country is going through.”
It is therefore calling on the government and NPA to immediately withdraw the increased levies on the UPPF Margin, PDM, FMM and the BOST Margin, to alleviate the burden on the ordinary Ghanaian citizen. It must be stated that there is no justification for these increase, and of course, counter-productive.
“The IES finds these new amendments in the various margins as a nuisance and insensitive to the Ghanaian petroleum consumer, particularly as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still felt by the majority of Ghanaians. The consumer is already burdened with several taxes, in the face of job losses, salary cuts, and collapse of businesses et cetera; following the pandemic”, the statement added.
“It is therefore inappropriate for the government to lay more burdens on Ghanaians through the amendments in fuel margins. The IES finds no justification for the increases in these margins”.
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