The Institute of Energy Security has projected that fuel prices may remain unchanged in the next pricing window despite the reduction in crude prices on the global market.
This, according to the Institute, is due to the instability of the cedi against the dollar in recent times.
Data from the IES Economic Desk on the domestic foreign exchange (forex) market over the last two weeks revealed that the cedi closed trading at ¢12.01 to the US dollar, from ¢11.55 at the start of the window. This led to a loss of about 3.98% in value.
“Prices of all petroleum products monitored by the Institute for Energy Security (IES) on the international market fell, alongside the price of Brent crude over the last two weeks. Price of Gasoline [petrol], Gasoil [diesel], and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) fell by 3.56%, 3.69%, and 2.37% respectively, over the period. On the domestic front, the Ghana cedi lost a value of roughly 3.98% against the US dollar, as monitored on the foreign exchange market”, it stated.
International crude oil prices traded at $83.3 per barrel for Brent crude at the end of the pricing window under review, from an initial average price of $85.29 per barrel.
Fuel prices saw a marginal increase in the just-ended pricing window of April 16 to April 30.
The IES monitoring of various Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) during the pricing window under review showed that the national average price per litre for petrol stood at ¢12.76p, diesel at ¢12.86p, and LPG at about ¢11.60 per kilogramme; which were an increase, except for LPG.