Former Deputy Minister for Power, Hon. John Jinapor has described as unfair the decision of government to reduce prices of fuel by 15 pesewas.
‘‘If the drivers are satisfied with the 2% reduction, as compared 45% increment, then we can celebrate,’’ he posited.
Following agitations by some Driver Unions, the government, through Goil, caused a 15 pesewas reduction in the pump prices of fuel.
This has led to the marginal reduction in the cost of fuel in some filing stations in the country.
The Yapei-Kusawgu constituency Member of Parliament mentioned that the 15 pesewas reduction in prices of fuel cannot be compared to the 45% increment in prices, since January 2021.
He dismissed the view that the reduction in prices of fuel is due to the reduction in prices on the international market.
‘’Ghana is a net-exporter of fuel. We pegged our benchmark price to $54 but the international prices have shot up. Consistent increment in oil prices is due to the myriad of taxes and levies on the prices of petroleum product,’’ he stated.
The Member of Parliament for in the Savannah region has asked government to scrap some of the needless taxes on petroleum products in order to reduce the cost of fuel.
‘’There are so many taxes and levies. BOST margins has increased by 200%. There are a sanitation and pollution levies, Petroleum stabilization and recovery levies, as well as other numerous levies in the price build up. Some of these taxes should be scrapped to stabilize prices of fuel’’, he explained.
It was his contention that even as an importer of a commodity that has myriad of taxes and levies, Ghana stands to gain when international commodity prices increases.
He wondered why government will continue to impose taxes and levies on a commodity that affect every Ghanaian.
