Change Price Stabilisation Recovery Levy into a Fund for downstream sector – Petrosol CEO says
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Oil Marketing Company (OMC) Petrosol, Michael Bozumbil, has called on the government to convert the Price Stabilisation Recovery Levy (PSRL) into what he calls the Price Stabilisation Recovery Margin (PSRM).
According to him, the PSRL which is currently a petroleum tax revenue handle for the government must be changed into a Fund for the country’s downstream sector.
The proposed PSRM Fund, just like the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF), he asserts in an interview on Joy News’ PM Express and monitored by norvanreports, must be managed by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC) and the Ministry of Energy (MoE).
“Government needs to change the PSRL from a tax that goes to the it to a PSRM which goes to the NPA with the CBOD, AOMC, NPA and MoE managing the Fund.
“The UPPF for instance is being housed at the NPA and that is what is facilitating the uniformed movement of petroleum products across the country,” he stated.
”The PSRL should immediately be changed so that it can start accumulating funds to help the downstream sector (sic),” he added.
Sharing the same opinion was CEO of CBOD, Senyo Hosi, who remarked the proposal by Mr Bozumbil is a brilliant suggestion and that government going forward should consider it and make steps towards changing the PSRL into a Fund for the industry.
“This is a brilliant proposal and this is something that should have been in place a long time ago, if it had, probably a lot of the problems we see now wouldn’t be there,” he noted speaking in the same interview.
The assertion by Mr Bozumbil follows the persistent increase in prices of petroleum products at the pumps and the looming fuel shortage that faces the country given the inability of BDCs to get the required forex from the Central Bank and commercial banks to support fuel imports.
The Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy (PSRL) is tax that charges 16 pesewas and 14 pesewas on petrol and diesel sold at pumps across the country.
