The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), has called on government to as a matter of urgency put concrete strategies in place to forestall price increases in petroleum products as it is affecting harshly the general cost of living within the country.
A statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, said barely a fortnight after prices at the pumps shot up by over 12 percent due to the introduction of some taxes, increases in margins by the NPA and industry as well as increases on the international market fuel prices are set to go up again in the next few hours.
It said Geopolitical events over the past few days have led to increases in International Market Prices from and the trend if not checked could likely continue or escalate.
The statement said the country seems not to have any mitigating policies in place to cushion the average Ghanaian from these International Market price shocks as the effects reflect directly at the pumps and on people’s pockets.
It said the Strategic Stocks which could have also been used to offset these price movements on the international market is currently nonexistent as the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation instead of holding strategic stocks has now become fully commercial in their outlook though they continue to take monies from Ghanaians at the pumps in the name of BOST margins.
