• Consumers of petroleum will have to pay more for products
• Parliament is yet to grant the NPA approval to remove the PSRL for two months
• Petrol and diesel are currently selling at GH¢6.80 at some pumps as of October 16
Consumers of petroleum products will have to wait for some time as the removal of the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy of 16 pesewas for diesel and petrol is yet to take effect.
Already, some pumps in the country have since this past weekend adjusted prices of petroleum products to as much as GH¢6.80 for a litre of petrol and diesel.
But Head of Communications of the National Petroleum Authority, Mohammed Abdul-Kudus has explained the Authority has not been granted the all-clear to move ahead with the removal of the levy for two months.
This is because the House is still on recess and is expected to resume sitting on October 26, 2021.
“It would have to take Parliament to give us the clearance to now remove it from the price build-up. Because Parliament has not been able to give us the all-clear, and since the second window is supposed to ensue from October 16th, regrettably the recent increases at the pumps by some of the OMC’s are inclusive of the levy. The levy will only be excluded after Parliament has given us the all-clear,” he told Citi Business News.
On the local market, prices of petroleum have spiked as a result of the second pricing window of October which began on October 16, 2021, pushing fuel prices to increase significantly.
Prior to this, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo through the NPA approved the removal of the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levies (PRSL) on petrol, diesel, and LPG for two months.
The move according to the government is to cushion consumers from the impacts of the price buildup of petroleum products on the international oil market.
On Friday, October 15, 2021, Brent Crude was selling as high as US$85 a barrel. The commodity was earlier selling at US$77 a barrel at the end of September this year.