The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Marketers Association has reiterated that the price of LPG will remain high in the country if the taxes are not scrapped.
The price of LPG unusually went up by 8% despite the forecast that it will drop in this pricing window (April 16-April 30, 2023).
Speaking to the media, Vice president of the LPG Marketers Association, Gabriel Kumi, said the consumption of LPG keeps dwindling every day.
“LPG consumption in Ghana dropped by 12% against that of 2021 and the figures we are picking from the first quarter of this year are even worse.
“So, if government really wants to still hold onto this objective of increasing access and penetration to 50% by the year 2030, then government needs to take a bold step – it needs to do the needful – to ensure that the price comes down”.
He continued that “the drop in consumption can singularly be attributed to the rise in the price of the product. There is no other reason that the price of LPG is going down other than the price of the product…it’s the price that is pushing a lot of people from consumption”.
He added that consumption will go up once the price comes down, stating that “it is common sense that you will get a lot more people consuming the product because LPG is a product with elastic demand”.
Mr Kumi also pointed no matter how high crude oil prices go up, once the taxes are taken off LPG “we are likely to make some gains in terms of consumptions”.
He appealed to government to take a second look at the taxes on the LPG price build-up since prices of crude oil have started going up.
