[ 2014-12-18 ]

Reduce fuel price; Petrol should sell at GH¢8.52 - Ex-NPA boss
A former boss of the National Petroleum Authority
(NPA) John Attafuah has lashed out at his
ex-outfit for keeping prices of fuel high, despite
drastic slump on the oil market.

The regulatory body has vehemently refused to go
by its Automatic Adjustment Formula which requires
the NPA to periodically review prices of fuel. The
NPA said they are not contesting the call to
reduce prices at the pumps, but have resolved to
maintain the current prices – despite the
massive reduction – for the Bulk Distribution
Companies to defray their debt.

Crude oil hit a fresh five-year low on Tuesday,
extending a six-month selloff as slowing Chinese
factory activity and weakening emerging-market
currencies added to concerns about demand. U.S.
crude fell to $54.09 a barrel after trading at a
session low of $53.72, the weakest level since May
4, 2009, when it reached $52.56.

Following this development, Attafuah has argued
the NPA is not being fair to Ghanaians looking at
how low the prices have fallen, arguing petrol
should be selling at Gh¢8.52 per gallon as
against Gh¢15.

“There is absolutely no reason why the authority
should not reduce prices at the pumps,” he told
Accra-based Citi FM.

According to him, using the prices of petroleum
products on the NPA’s website between June and
December 1, this year, particularly the world
market price for crude as a proxy and multiplying
that by the exchange rate, the price of the
commodity should have gone down by about 31
percent as at last week.

Attafuah told the Daily Guide in a separate
interview that using the current exchange rate of
GH¢3.22, it translates into 44 percent in cedi
terms and 50 percent in dollar terms from June
2014 to date. Thus, a gallon of petrol in Ghana
should now be selling at GH¢8.52.

Source - Starrfmonline

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