The Institute for Energy Security (IES) is anticipating fuel prices to increase again in the first half of June, which begins on June 1, 2024.
According to IES, this stems from developments in the foreign fuel and domestic forex markets as the cedi’s performance worsens.
The cedi continues to give grounds to the US dollar with the year-to-date depreciation at 17.88%. It is presently going for GH¢14.90 to a dollar on the retail forex market.
“Gasoline [petrol], Gasoil [diesel], and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) all recorded a decrease of about 4.17%, 0.87%, and 3.44%, respectively, over the last two weeks. Given the favourable price changes recorded on the international market for these products, prices at the local pumps should ordinarily reflect a reduction to relieve consumers. However, the massive fall (4.17%) of the Ghana cedi against the U.S. dollar may prevent a realisation of the full gains made on the world fuel market on the local fuel market,” IES pointed out.
IES monitoring of the global Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) Platts on petroleum products performance in the world fuel market shows that the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG have all decreased on the world fuel market.
Published data for the second pricing window of May 2024 indicate that petrol closed at $851.73 per metric tonne, diesel closed at $749.70 per metric tonne, and LPG closed at $444.80 per metric tonne.
The net changes indicate that the price of petrol has fallen by 4.17%, diesel by 0.87%, and LPG by 3.44%.
On the local fuel market, the performance in the second pricing window for May 2024 and the loss in the local currency’s value stalled expected price reductions at the domestic pump.
Regarding the specific performance of refined petroleum products monitored over the period, it was observed that diesel and petrol prices were relatively stable among most oil marketing companies (OMCs) tracked over the period.
IES calculation of the national average price for the three refined petroleum products for the second pricing window for May 2024 shows petrol and diesel selling at GH₡14.22 and GH₡14.00 per litre, respectively, whereas LPG went for GH₡15.63 per kilogramme.
However, In the second pricing window of May, petrol prices dropped marginally at the pumps.
IES said the fall in prices was due to the reduction of prices of refined petroleum products on the international market, which is wider than the cedi depreciation.