Information Minister, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has hinted that government is taking measures to tackle the escalating fuel prices in the country.
In a tweet, the Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker hinted that “yesterday and today President Akufo-Ado has been engaged in meetings in preparation to announce easing of restrictions at our land borders and tackling escalating fuel prices”.
Meanwhile the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has announced that commuters should expect another upward increment in transport fares.
It follows another significant increase in fuel prices by some Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) yesterday with an increase of up to 30% at the pumps.
According to the Head of the Union’s Communications, Abass Imoro, “if nothing is being done about this also, then next week of course we have to adjust lorry fares.”
“We did mention in the last upward adjustment with the public that should the 10% threshold keep on its peak, we shall definitely come out with another upward adjustment in lorry fare,” he said
Government had an agreement with commercial transport operators that they can increase the prices of transport fares when fuel prices increased by a cumulative 10%.
Following the current hikes in fuel prices, Abass Imoro says the executives are deliberating on another upward adjustment to be made to the existing fares.
The transport operators, on Saturday, February 26 increased the fares by 15 per cent after demanding a 30 per cent increment.
A monitoring report from IES research analysts showed that fuel prices at the pumps have already incurred a net increase of ¢1.8 per litre (27%t) for both petrol and diesel, since the start of the year, and for five consecutive Pricing-windows.
Referenced to March 2021, the report also revealed that the price of both petrol and diesel have surged by roughly ¢3.33 per litre, suggesting a 65% increment.
While petrol cost per litre in Ghana has surged by about some 65% between March 2021 and March 2022, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt have recorded price jumps of approximately 14%, 34%, and 26% respectively, within the same period.
The IES said the differences in prices across the listed countries are due to the interventions of respective governments to the rising international oil prices, and the extent to which local currencies are managed against the US dollar.
Since the beginning of the year, prices of petrol and diesel have gone up by more than ¢3 per litre.
