Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, says the recent swoop on black market currency dealers is worsening volatility in the forex market and affecting fuel prices.

He says the cedi is now swinging sharply within hours, and the arrests have made it harder to source dollars.

Speaking on Joy News' PM Express Business Edition, he questioned whether competition is still the reason fuel prices have remained where they are.

He said, “As we speak, it’s competition that has kept fuel prices remain. My finding right now is to the extent that, of course, the cedi has been on and off.”

He said there are periods when the cedi stabilises briefly and then suddenly gains. He said the next moment it loses value.

He described the situation on Thursday, December 11, as alarming.

“For today – Thursday, December 11 – I can put on record that whilst at the office with a few people, we kept trying to source dollars from the open market, and you will be surprised by the rates that kept coming within one hour.”

According to him, the security operation against illegal forex dealers has worsened the problem.

He said, “I think that whatever the task force did yesterday by arresting black market dealers is also having a negative impact.”

Mr Amoah urged authorities to rethink their approach.

He said they must “review that carefully whether to go indeed swooping in on these guys that provide the market with the forex or there should be a more, you know, friendly way of approaching them.”