The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says it has made a request through the Energy Ministry to the Finance Ministry to “review or reduce or remove” some of the taxes and levies on petroleum products in the country.
The NPA says it is waiting for the Finance Ministry to do its analysis on the demands and give further directives.
The second pricing window of petroleum products took effect on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, but there was no reduction in the prices of petroleum products as all the 13 taxes and levies were still the same: Road Fund Levy – GHp49, Energy Fund Levy – GHp1, Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy – GHp14, Sanitation and Pollution Levy – GHp10, Energy Sector Recovery Levy – GHp20, Special Petroleum Tax – GHp46, Primary Distribution Margin – GHp11, BOST Margin – GHp9, Fuel Marking Margin – GHp5, Marketers Margin – GHp30.
Reacting to the development on 3FM’s Sunrise hosted by Alfred Ocansey on Wednesday, the Head of Pricing at the NPA, Abass Ibrahim Tasunte, explained that the “depreciation of the Cedi, the price of crude in the international market, and then taxes on the product have been the factors contributing to the fuel price increments”.
He said, “the NPA does not impose taxes on petroleum products, it just regulates.”
“We heard the Energy Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry on taxes and levies on petroleum products and we are waiting for the report to come so that the NPA can act on it.”
Mr. Tasunte noted that “until [the Finance Ministry] is done with their analysis on these levies, NPA cannot do anything”.
“We can only wait for the government to get back to us. They will communicate to us on what to do, so we have to wait for the government to decide”.
He assured that “once we get a confirmation from the Ministry of Finance, we will heed to the directives”.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|3news.com|Ghana
