The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has called again on the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to re-examine its fuel price floor policy, saying it blocks consumers from enjoying the full impact of falling global oil prices.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on Saturday, July 25, which was monitored by Ghanaian Radar, the COPEC Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, said the present pricing system permits oil marketing firms to raise pump prices when international market trends turn negative within a pricing window, but restricts competitive cuts when costs drop.
“That pricing floor mechanism is not helping the Ghanaian in any way,” Mr Amoah said.
He noted that Ghana’s downstream fuel market operates under full deregulation, which means prices should reflect shifts in world oil prices and currency movements.“What that means is that when you deregulate a market, the forces of demand and supply would determine prices,” he said.
Mr Amoah pointed out that in the current pricing cycle, diesel had gone up by around 70 pesewas per litre, with petrol rising by about 30 pesewas, in line with global market changes.
“For diesel, we have recorded almost 68, 70 pesewas additional. Petrol has also seen about 30 pesewas from the GH¢13.70-something that it used to be to above GH¢14 now,” he said.
He admitted that price hikes are normal under deregulation, but argued that the price floor creates an imbalance anytime global prices decline. “The markets can go up within the window. They can go up by as much as one Cedi or two cedis if the world market prices dictate so,” he said.
“But if it were the inverse where it has to go down, you have published a floor that says it is the barest minimum below which nobody should sell.”
He said scrapping or reviewing the floor would enable consumers to benefit faster from drops in international fuel costs and would spur stronger competition among marketers.
Mr Amoah has long pushed for changes to Ghana’s fuel pricing structure. He maintains that while deregulation shields government from fuel subsidies, the rules must also allow Ghanaians to gain fully when global prices fall.
