Fuel Prices Up In Ghana As Oil Costs Rise, Cedi Weakens

News Desk

July 16, 2024

Cropped close up image of unrecognizable African businessman in casual wear, rholding in hand filling gun and refueling his luxury car with gasoline at the petrol station.

Several Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in Ghana have adjusted fuel prices at the pump.

Shell Leads Price Increase

Shell raised prices the most significantly. Petrol is now selling at ₵15.10 per liter, a 2% increase from ₵14.80. Diesel prices rose to ₵15.25 per liter, a 2.2% increase.

Star Oil Makes Mixed Adjustments

Star Oil also increased petrol prices slightly, to ₵13.93 per liter from ₵13.88. However, they reduced diesel prices to ₵14.70 per liter from ₵14.79.

Reasons for the Increase

OMCs attribute the price hikes to two main factors:

Rising global crude oil prices
Weakening Ghanaian cedi (GHS) compared to the US dollar (USD)

Further Increases Expected

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) predicts an additional 4% rise in fuel prices by July 16th. They say this is due to the continued depreciation of the cedi.

COPEC’s Proposed Solutions

COPEC urges the government to:

Reduce taxes on fuel
Subsidize Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices

This would make fuel more affordable and encourage the use of LPG, which can benefit the environment.