As the price of fuel at the pump continues to rise, a former board chairman of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Henry Akwaboah, says the government must begin drawing from the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy account to help reduce the impact of the rampant increase on consumers.

He said he “thinks that all the revenue that has accrued when the price stabilisation was inspired should now be used to reduce the prices. I mean that is the reason why the levy was imposed in any way”.

“So, the time has come for us to use it, I don’t know how much is sitting in there, but let the government disclose that; so this how much we were able to accrue and this is how we are going to implement it. At this period that we are expecting prices to be going up, that’s the only thing government can do. It’s either they stabilize it or further reduce it” Mr Akwaboah added.

Fuel prices started the year at a little over GHS4 per litre but currently are just a few pesewas shy of GHS7 a litre.

The Levy was introduced in 2015 to serve as a buffer for under-recoveries in the petroleum sector and to stabilise petroleum prices for consumers among others.

The National Petroleum Commission had last month announced a two-month suspension of the levy which currently stands at 16 pesewas per litre on petrol, 14 pesewas per litre on diesel and 14 pesewas per kilogram on LPG.

Some Civil Organisations like the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) have called for the scrapping of the levy arguing that it has outlived its purpose.