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The public has been cautioned by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) that the devaluing of the cedi would result in higher fuel prices at the pumps in the upcoming weeks.
The warning was issued in response to certain oil marketing companies raising pump prices in spite of predictions that prices would fall starting in mid-May.
The decision to raise prices was attributed by the corporations to market uncertainty related to currency rates.
At Forex Bureaus, as of Tuesday, May 21, 2024, one dollar was selling for GH¢15.20.
According to Duncan Amoah, the chamber’s executive secretary, exchange rate volatility is causing problems for oil marketing businesses.
It is difficult to plan because of the unpredictability, Mr. Amoah revealed, even if some oil marketing organizations are looking into creative methods to reduce the impact of the cedi’s depreciation on their operations.
“Once you have a currency that you can’t predict its performance in the next two to three months, then you are forcing the importers to determine what values to set their pricing”, he said.
He said that company owners always adjust their projections based on the performance of the currency and in response to what the market expects.
“The importer is required to pay the providers after he has finished selling his fuel. Compared to when he was fixing the price, he now requires more cedi. “There might have been a certain overrun,” he stated.
According to Mr. Amoah, importers have a financial burden since it takes more cedis to purchase the same number of dollars that were used to import the product in the first place.
“So clearly, something must be done and government has a duty to ensure stability of the cedi”, he said.
He went on to say that a significant element influencing fuel pricing at the pump has been the cedi’s performance as well as how different finished petroleum products are doing on the global market.
However, due to the devaluation of the cedi, the majority of oil marketing businesses have chosen to maintain the same pricing as of last Thursday.
Allied Oil, a significant participant in the market, informed Joy Business that although the business will revise their pricing upward, they will remain below the 14 cedi threshold.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
