Fuel prices will hit GHS9.00 per litre before March ending – COPEC

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana, COPEC, has predicted that fuel will sell at GHS 9.00 per litre by the close of March this year.

According to COPEC, the unprecedented hike in the prices of fuel is partly due to the depreciation of the cedi and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which is affecting international market prices.

His comments come after an increase in fuel prices at some pumps from GHS 7.99 to GHS 8.29.

In an interview, Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, said the current prices at the pumps are actually on the downside.

“What the situation in Ukraine will mean is that international market prices will continue to surge. Again, we also have a situation where the cedi is not doing so well. I foresee the Ghanaian fuel prices crossing GHS 9.00 per litre before the end of the month.”

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

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, said he had expected the increase to be much higher.

COPEC had previously warned that if nothing is done by authorities in Ghana, regarding the rising fuel prices on the global market as Russia invades Ukraine, fuel prices could cross the GHs8 mark at the pumps in the first pricing window of March.

The Institute for Energy Security (IES) is also predicting a four per cent increase in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Diesel, and Petrol at the pumps in the first pricing window of March.

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.