The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, says he is “greatly worried” about the potential impact of higher transport fares following the latest increase in fuel prices.
His comments come as transport operators push for an adjustment in fares, citing rising operational costs.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has maintained its proposal for a 30% increase in transport fares, with the latest fuel price increases adding pressure to ongoing discussions between transport operators and government.
The NPA increased the price floor for petrol to GH¢16 per litre and diesel to GH¢16.77 per litre effective September 16. Some Oil Marketing Companies have subsequently adjusted their pump prices.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, Mr Tamakloe said the prospect of higher transport fares and its potential effect on consumers and inflation was a major concern.
“I’m greatly worried,” he said.
Mr Tamakloe said he and the Minister for Transport had been engaging transport operators to find ways of managing the impact of rising operating costs.
He explained that transport operators face several major expenses, including vehicle maintenance, spare parts, fuel, payments to drivers and mates, as well as insurance.
“First of all, for transport business, there are three essential things that you always want to look at: the cost of maintaining the freight, the cost of spare parts. Not only that, the cost of running the business, that’s fuel cost,” he said.
According to him, payments to drivers and mates have generally remained stable, while insurance costs have also largely remained unchanged.
“What has become impactful now has to do with the fuel price,” he said.
Government interventions
Mr Tamakloe said government measures had helped absorb some of the cost pressures that transport operators could otherwise have faced.
“The cedi stability has absorbed potential cost for you from the forex end. That’s government’s intervention,” he said.
He also pointed to government support measures intended to cushion the impact of rising fuel prices.
“So the issue now has to do with this. Now government is also coming in to cushion periodically the impact of the increase in prices,” he said.
Mr Tamakloe said the NPA and government had engaged transport operators on the need for all stakeholders to share the burden rather than immediately passing the full cost onto commuters.
“So we have jaw-jawed with the various transport owners that there is a time for us to also bear the share,” he said.
He said the engagements had contributed to putting the proposed fare increase on hold.
“And that is why you notice that the attempt to increase the price or increase fares has basically been put on ice,” he added.
The NPA CEO commended the leadership of the GPRTU, the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA) and other transport groups for what he described as constructive engagement with government.
“I think that the GPRTU, and I salute their leadership, the PROTOA and all those other people, that so far we have had some constructive engagement with them, which has greatly been impactful,” he said.
However, Mr Tamakloe acknowledged that some transport operators had increased fares despite the ongoing discussions.
“There are a few recalcitrant ones that have decided to increase their prices arbitrarily,” he said.
