The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Mr. Duncan Amoah, has expressed concern over the recent increments in fuel prices across the country.

Speaking in an interview with Aisha Ibrahim on JoyNews, on Tuesday, the energy expert disclosed that the reintroduction of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levies (PSRL) by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), is an insensitive decision.

According to him, the move by the NPA will affect consumers, and pose economic difficulties for them.

“What it means in simple terms is that your fuel prices will go up by that margin. 16 pesewas for petrol, 14 pesewas for diesel, 14 pesewas for LPG. We think this is very insensitive and badly timed. Insensitive to the extent that, you have for the first time in 28 years, where crude prices have crossed 90 dollars. Mostly in January, crude prices decelerate or decline. You see prices drop.

Around this time, because of [trading] between Russia and Ukraine, and also undersupply by the OPEC block, there’s a lot of pressure on crude. Prices are going up already. We complain a lot. The driver unions complain a lot. Following which the President of the Republic gave a directive that the Stabilization and Recovery Levy, one of the levies that we had all requested to be reduced, should be zeroed. The thinking would have been that we would wait for prices to ease a bit,” he stated.

On January 31, the Institute of Energy Security (IES), predicted that fuel prices are expected to go up by 25 pesewas per litre from February 1, due to an impending suspension of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL).

“This is a result of an 8.52% increase in the price of Brent crude and a marginal depreciation of the cedi to the US dollar during the last two weeks.

Over the next two weeks, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) foresees the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), diesel, and petrol recording yet another jump at the pump, despite a suspension of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL). The pending increases come on the back of an 8.52% increase in the price of Brent crude, a 5.5% rise in LPG price, a 6.23% increase in price of gasoline, and 9.86% jump in gasoil price; all on the international oil and fuel markets.

Further depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar on the foreign exchange (forex) market adds on to the factors that will push up the prices of the commodities on the local market,” the IES explained.

True to the predictions by the IES, indications at the various pumps on Tuesday morning, February 1, showed marginal increases in the price of fuel. Reacting to this, scores of consumers have bemoaned the situation, and urged government to intervene.

COPEC has also added its voice to the calls for a reduction in the fuel prices, stressing that the increment will be burdensome.