NPA awaits directives from Finance Ministry on fuel prices

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says it has made a request through the Energy Ministry to the Finance Ministry to “review or reduce or remove” some taxes and levies on petroleum products in the country.

The NPA says it is waiting for the Finance Ministry to do its analysis on the demands and give further directives.

The second pricing window of petroleum products took effect Wednesday, March 16, 2022, but there was no reduction in the prices of petroleum products as all the 13 taxes and levies are still the same: Energy Debt Recovery levy – GHp49, Road Fund Levy – GHp48, Energy Fund Levy – GHp1, Price Stabilisation, and Recovery Levy – GHp14, Sanitation, and Pollution Levy – GHp10, Energy Sector Recovery Levy – GHp20, Special Petroleum Tax – GHp46, Primary Distribution Margin – GHp11, BOST Margin – GHp9, Fuel Marking Margin – GHp5, Marketers Margin – GHp46 and Dealers (retailers/operators) Margin – GHp30.

Reacting to the development on 3FM’s Sunrise hosted by Alfred Ocansey on Wednesday, the Head of Pricing at the NPA, Abass Ibrahim Tasunte, explained that the “depreciating of the Cedi, the price of crude on the international market and then taxes on the product have been the factors contributing to the fuel price increments.”

He said, “the NPA does not impose taxes on petroleum products, it just regulates.”

“We heard the Energy Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry on taxes and levies on petroleum products and we are waiting for the report to come so that the NPA would act on it,” he said.

Mr. Tasunte noted that “until [the Finance Ministry] is done with their analysis on these levies, NPA cannot do anything”.

“We can only wait for the government to get back to us. They will communicate to us on what to do, so we have to wait for the government to decide”.

He assured that “once we get a confirmation from the Ministry of Finance, we will heed to the directives.”