Ghana: Fuel Prices Likely To Remain Unchanged Or Go Down Marginally–IES Predicts

Fuel prices are likely to remain largely unchanged or go down marginally in the second pricing window in April, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has predicted.

“For the remainder of April 2022, with the 1.5 per cent-cedi depreciation against the dollar, 1.06 per cent fall in petrol price, 3.65 per cent fall in diesel price, and 3.72 per cent fall in the price of LPG per metric tonne, the IES projects relative stability in the price of fuel on the local market,” IES said in a statement.

However, it said, “Some Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) may decide to reduce their prices marginally to increase their market share.”

Fuel prices saw marginal reduction during the first pricing window beginning April 2022, due to the government’s removal of 15 pesewas on both diesel and petrol, plus the relative stability of the Ghanaian cedi against the dollar.

Currently, petrol is sold between Gh¢9.20 and Gh¢9.50 per litre, whereas diesel is sold between Gh¢10.20 and Gh10.60 per litre at most Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

Prices of finished products monitored on Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Platts platform saw a reduction in the just ended window. Petrol price fell marginally by 1.06 per cent from its initial price of $1,060.23 per metric tonne to the end date price of $1,049.02 per metric tonne.

Additionally, the price of diesel fell by 3.65 per cent, reaching $1,092.55 per metric tonne from a prior price of $1133.95 per metric tonne.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG’s) price closed the window at $872.48 per metric tonne from an earlier price of $906.18 per metric tonne on the international fuel market, falling by 3.72 per cent.

Also, data analyzed by the IES Economic Desk within the window reveals that the cedi further depreciated against the major trading currencies on the Foreign Exchange (forex) market.

The cedi depreciated further by 1.44 per cent to close at GH¢7.79 to the dollar from the earlier window’s rate of GH¢7.68 to the dollar.

As of 9am Tuesday, Brent crude was trading at $112.4 while WTI was selling at $107.3 per barrel.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com