Fuel prices have shot up significantly by about 10 percent even before the fortnight review of petroleum products on Sunday, October 30, 2022 by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
This is coming despite a stable price of crude oil on the world market.
Checks by Joy Business indicate some market leaders such as GOIL and TotalEnergies are selling petrol at ¢13.99 a liter while Petrosol and Engen, have increased prices for both petrol and diesel astronomically.
Whilst Petrosol is now selling petrol for ¢17.45 per liter, Engen is selling a liter of petrol for ¢17.54 .
The two OMCs are also now selling a liter of diesel for ¢19. 89 pesewas and ¢19.44 pesewas respectively.
Some Industry players have attributed the surge in prices to recent depreciation of the cedi against the U.S dollar.
An industry analyst told Joy Business that the OMCs can no longer wait for the bi-weekly review of prices of petroleum products because the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies have been selling to them at the current market rate.
Already, the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has indicated its intention of increasing transport fares, effective Saturday, October 29, 2022 by 19%.
The increasing fuel prices will push inflation up. This will subsequently influence interest rates and the cost of borrowing.
Fuel prices went up between 7% and 12% on October 16, 2022
Fuel prices went up between 7% and 12% in the last price review on October 16, 2022.
According to the Institute for Energy Security, this was due to the increases in price of the products on the international market, and the significant decline in the value of the local currency against the American greenback or US dollar.