The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is predicting an increase in prices of fuel in Ghana in the coming days.

COPEC believes the increment is likely to be seen in the second pricing window in December 2020. The Chamber indicated that the slight depreciation of the cedi among other things is a reason for this anticipated upward adjustment.

Speaking to Citi Business News, Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, said consumers should expect about five percent increase this week. He stated that, “There is increasing pressure on the various oil marketing companies. Over the past few days, if you look at the international benchmarks, prices have gone up so BDC prices have gone up and then again the cedi is also struggling against the dollar largely. What that means is that prices naturally would have had to go up at the pumps. Then again they are also considerate of Ghanaians– the holiday Christmas approaching. We believe strongly that they may not be able to absorb the numbers except and until the government decides to ease off the price stabilization and recovery margin at this time. If that is not done it is quite likely that we may see increases in fuel prices between 3 and 5 percent by Thursday this week.”

The Institute for Energy Security (IES) had earlier predicted a 3% – 5% increase in both petrol and diesel prices at the pumps within the first 2 weeks of December, which makes up the first pricing window of the month.

The energy think tank attributed the expected jump in fuel prices to a number of factors including optimism around the development of effective COVID-19 vaccines, a loosening of restrictions in parts of Europe as well as the hopes of an extension of the period for production cuts by OPEC-plus countries to at least the first quarter of 2021.

The institute, however, indicated that the increase will not lead to an increase in transport fares.