Central Bank makes available to BDCs $60m for fuel imports
The Central Bank has made available some $60m in foreign exchange to Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs) for fuel imports.
The sale of US dollar to the BDCs was made in a forex forward auction by the Central Bank.
The 30-day tenor forex auction by the BoG was subscribed by 24 BDCs who through their banks submitted bids ranging from GHS 13 to GHS 14.5.
The BoG’s forex forward rate for the auction was GHS 13.31.
According to the BoG, the forward auction is intended to minimise the uncertainty of the future availability of forex and aid price discovery especially for the general pricing window within the downstream sector.
With the exclusive forex forward auction to BDCs by the BoG, prices of imported fuel at the pumps is expected to witness some stability.
Meanwhile, price of diesel and petrol is expected to fall to GHS 21 and GHS 17 respectively starting today, Monday, November 14, 2022.
This is according to the Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, November,9, Duncan Amoah noted that measures are being put in place to help subsidise the rising prices.
“We will be expecting diesel to drop from GHS 23 to somewhere around GHS 21.19, and the petrol will also drop from GHS 17.99 to somewhere GHS 17.10 or GHS 17.00.
“All things being equal, diesel could go down by GHS 2 a litre and petrol could go close to a cedi per litre based on the forex numbers that we have picked over the past one week,” he said.
Mr. Amoah stated that the rise is due to the increase in taxes on petrol to around 422% within the year.
He noted that the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) should not be blamed for the increase in prices; instead, he believes it is due to mismanagement by the government.
He, therefore, wants the government to minimise the increase in petroleum taxes, saying it may lead to loss of jobs in the petroleum sector.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mohammed Abdul-Kudus, is of the opinion that the increment in prices should be blamed on the cedi depreciation and not taxes.
According to him, deregulation of the fuel prices distorts the communication between the Authority and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) when some companies’ prices are different.
“Another thing that has not helped us to a large extent has been the instability of our currency. We all know the dynamics in the management of forex around the francophone countries that normally guarantee them a certain stability on their currency,” he explained.
Mr. Abdul-Kudus believes there would not be changes in prices even when the government subsidises the prices of products.
Currently, diesel is selling for more than GHS 23 per litre, while the price of petrol is hovering around GHS 18 per litre.
