Accra, Jan. 4, GNA – Prices of petrol and diesel are likely to rise by some 18 pesewas per litre this week, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has projected.
Mr Fritz Moses, Research Analyst, IES, told the Ghana News Agency that the projection stemmed from the continuous rise in crude prices on the international market.
He said the increment in global prices was due to rise in demand for petroleum products during the festive period among other factors.
“Some OMCs have already made some upward adjustments and looking at the global trend, we expect other OMCs to increase their prices this week.
“We expect prices to rise by some 18 pesewas per litre on the average,” Mr Moses said.
Brent crude settled up $1.20, or 1.5 per cent, at $78.98 a barrel at 1700 hours on Monday, January, 3, 2022, having earlier risen as high as $79.05 per barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at 87 cents, $76.08 a barrel.
Fuel pricing in Ghana is deregulated, meaning prices on the international market directly affect prices at the local pumps.
The GNA’s assessment of prices at the pumps Tuesday morning showed that some Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) had increased their prices marginally, with patrol and diesel selling at ₵6.80 and ₵6.85 per litre respectively.
Some other OMCs still have their prices as low as ₵6.37 per litre for both patrol and diesel on Monday.
Mr Moses said the situation on the world market had not yet had any significant impact on local prices due to competition among the OMCs.
“Because of competition, the OMCs have dropped their margins so they could sell more volumes and still make some profit,” he noted.
In its review of December Second Pricing-Window, the IES projected that the reintroduction of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL), which was suspended for two months, would push fuel prices up in the New Year.
It said data monitored by the IES Economic Desk from the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market showed that the Cedi depreciated further against the U.S. Dollar by 0.5 per cent in the just ended pricing window to close trading ¢6.24 to the US Dollar from the previous window’s rate of ¢6.21 to the US Dollar.
“For the January First Pricing-Window, the 8.18 per cent increase in the price of the International Benchmark- Brent crude, the 3.25 per cent increase in price of Gasoline, the 2.09 per cent increase in Gasoil price, the 0.5 per cent depreciation of the cedi against the US Dollar and the reintroduction of the PSRL; the IES projects for price of fuel on the domestic market at the various pumps to increase by at least GHp18, representing a 2.8 per cent increase,” the IES said.
GNA