Some Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) have started increasing prices of petroleum products at the pumps from August 1, 2023.

GOIL is selling a litre of petrol at ₵12.95 from its previous price of ₵12.40.

Diesel is also selling a litre at ₵12.95 from its old price of ₵12.45.

The increase can be attributed to the sudden increase in prices of finished petroleum products on the international market as well as some supply issues on the world market.

Some industry watchers say this is the biggest hike in prices of finished petroleum products on the international market since January 2023.

The situation could cause inflation to go up as prices of fuel is an important component in the inflation basket.

Background

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) earlier predicted that fuel prices may go up on August 1, 2023.

According to the Chamber, the prices of petrol and diesel were likely to increase averagely by about 9.0%, liter, whilst the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) was expected to go up by about 20.0%.

COPEC said the expected increment of prices of petroleum products will be due to the rise in prices of finished products on the world market though the cedi improved in performance against the US dollar during the period.

“The following basic information forms the basis of projections for the coming window, that; prices of finished products on the international market has shot up by averagely around 12% for both petrol and diesel whiles Crude price has been increased by 10.53% from the mean price of $75.85/barrel to $83.84/barrel, even though the forex or dollar exchange rate has relatively decreased from a previous average of ¢11.7848 to ¢11.6433 (-1.20%) per $1”.