Consumers of petroleum products should be bracing themselves for another hike in the price of the commodity, the Institute of Energy Security (IES) has predicted.

The IES says the price of fuel is likely to go up by more than 17 pesewas per litre in the next pricing window.

Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director of IES, says this will be brought on by the price increases on the international market and the persistent depreciation of the cedi.

He also adds that the current economic difficulties make it almost impossible to fulfil calls for the scrapping of fuel taxes, adding that the government should rather rely on the Ghana Stabilization Fund to cushion Ghanaians.

“Calling for the reduction or removal of taxes at this time is difficult. Whilst we are kicking against E-levy, it’s difficult to reduce petroleum levies. But then, I think we can go into the Stabilization Fund because in the next window, if we are not careful, prices could go up by more than 17 pesewas per litre”, he said on The Big Issue on Citi TV.

Only a few weeks ago, fuel prices averaged GHS6.4 per litre as the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL) was reinstated by the National Petroleum Authority.

But fuel prices crossed the GHS 8 per litre mark in the first week of March 2022.

A barrel of Brent Crude Oil which was going for about $66 a year ago, and $78 at the start of 2022, jumped 7.3% to $103.9 a barrel in February. Analysts have warned of rising fuel prices on the global market as Russia invades Ukraine.

Nana Amoasi VII said: “Already gasoline on international market has gone beyond US$ 1,000 per metric tonne same as gas oil and the cedi has depreciated by more than four percent since [Friday] and we have another week to go. So if we are not careful and this continues, we are going in for a free fall and that is quite dangerous.”