The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) says its members are resorting to the black market to meet their dollar requirement to lift refined oil from the international market.

The Bank of Ghana in its latest auction was not able to meet the dollar demand of businesses in excess of $75 million in its latest auction.

According to the result of the sale of dollars through the Forex Forward Rates Auction to dealers, the Bank of Ghana was only able to supply $25 million to the dealers, largely the banks.

Speaking to JoyNews in an interview, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BDCs, Dr Patrick Ofori, said the current dollars supplied by the bulk oil distributors are not enough to meet their requirements.

“Yes, we already go there because there’s a delta that the Bank of Ghana is unable to provide for us and the commercial banks are also not able to provide for us.

“It definitely pushes us there which invariably keeps putting a lot of pressure on the dollar and that will force it to go up,” he said.

The Bank of Ghana and the commercial banks are unable to meet the dollar supply, leaving a gap to be filled to enable the BDCs to import needed oil monthly.

Some players in the industry fear the country could over time have a major fuel crisis if the forex challenges are not addressed immediately.

But the Chamber has assured that despite the challenges there are sufficient stocks of all petroleum products to satisfy national demand even into the new year.

It has, therefore, dismissed reports about the pertinent fuel shortage, describing it as unfounded.