The Chief Government Officer of the Affiliation of Oil Advertising and marketing Corporations (AOMCs), Dr Riverson Oppong Peprah, has warned that the newly authorized GH¢1 gasoline levy may drive gasoline costs greater, including additional pressure on customers and the downstream sector.
Talking on JoyNews AM at present, June 4, he criticised the federal government for imposing the levy with out correct session, stressing the potential penalties for gasoline costs and the {industry}.
His feedback come amid Parliament’s approval on Tuesday of the Power Sector Levy (Modification) Invoice, 2025, which introduces a further GH¢1 cost on each litre of petroleum merchandise.
The invoice was handed late Monday, third June, as a measure to generate funds to deal with Ghana’s mounting vitality sector debt, at the moment estimated at US$3.1 billion.
“Let’s be clear: final yr, no political celebration manipulated gasoline costs as a result of they can not management worldwide benchmark costs and i used to be very glad,” he mentioned.
“Let’s strategy this holistically by absolutely understanding its impression. Final yr, I used to be very happy that, for the primary time, no political celebration manipulated gasoline costs for political acquire, as a result of nobody controls worldwide benchmark costs.
“When gasoline costs started to fall, it wasn’t as a result of the cedi gained stability; reasonably, it was because of a drop in plant costs attributable to the decline in West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil costs. Solely after that did the cedi stabilise and help the downward development.”
“As we converse at present, plant costs are already rising once more. So, I urge the federal government to rethink this levy since there are different choices,” he counselled.
He careworn that the downstream sector is unfairly burdened, regardless of already carrying vital levies, together with ESLA, which funds vitality sector money owed.
“Why should the downstream sector at all times shoulder the associated fee when strange Ghanaians are additionally paying for gasoline utilized in electrical energy technology?” Dr Peprah requested.
He warned that margins for oil advertising firms are shrinking dangerously near zero, but this challenge stays ignored.
“My members on the oil advertising firms are seeing their margins steadily shrink, simply to maintain their operations viable, but nobody is addressing this challenge. There are quite a few challenges within the downstream sector that I anticipated the federal government and different stakeholders to be discussing.
“As an alternative, what we’re listening to is a few one cedi levy being imposed with out correct engagement with stakeholders,” he mentioned, including that earlier than ESLA was lowered, there was intensive stakeholder session, and the change was accepted throughout the {industry}.
“There was correct stakeholder engagement earlier than ESLA was launched and adopted industry-wide.
“This GH¢1 levy, nevertheless, was slapped on with out session.
“So, the place are we headed with this one cedi levy? How sustainable is it, and the way can or not it’s justified economically?” he queried.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Feedback, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform don’t essentially symbolize the views or coverage of Multimedia Group Restricted.
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