The NPP Policy Committee on Energy is warning that the government’s fuel pricing policy could create another energy sector debt crisis, and is calling for taxes and levies on petroleum products to be suspended during the current crisis.
The committee said the government’s GHC2 per litre diesel intervention is depriving key players in the downstream sector of revenue, creating what it described as a GHC600 million monthly hole.
“Government is accumulating debt to BOST and other key players under the guise of ‘intervention’,” the committee said.
It is therefore urging government to restore the statutory margins and suspend petroleum taxes and levies for the duration of the crisis.
The committee also warned that rising crude oil and fuel prices could force diesel prices above GHC18 per litre despite the intervention.
