Consumers of petroleum products were spared an upward adjustment in prices of petroleum products at the pumps over the weekend.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the industry regulator, did not to increase prices on all petroleum products as expected.
It is unclear what might have influenced NPA’s decision not to review the prices.
Analysts say per the models that guide the review of the petroleum products every two weeks, there should have been an increase from last Sunday, February 16, 2014.
Industry analysts are certain the depreciating cedi, increases in prices of crude oil on the world market and plans to introduce a new tax on cost of production of petroleum products, pegged between 1 and 6 percent, there should have been an upward review.
Had the NPA approved an upward review, prices would have gone up by between 5 and 10 percent.
However a source close to the NPA told Joy Business, by the regulator’s own assessment, prices of crude oil have been dropping on world market – hence the decision to keep prices of the various products unchanged at the pumps .
The source further revealed that the NPA did not factor the depreciating cedi into the decision not to review the prices.
The source said the NPA is still not clear about the recent Bank of Ghana directives aimed at stabilising the falling local currency.