There is a fierce battle between the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs) over the country’s crude oil import bills.
The BDCs which import crude oil on behalf of the government has reported that the NPA owed it a whopping amount of GHȼ1.5 billion. But the NPA pegged its indebtedness to the BDCs at GHȼ412 million.
The NPA says as at July 31, 2014 its debt stock to the BDCs stood at GHȼ412 million. Out of that figure, GHȼ200 million had been paid through the windfall that has accrued from the falling crude oil prices on the international market.
The Public Relations and Consumer Services Manager for the NPA, Yaro Kasambata insisted that the NPA was keeping its eye on the GHȼ412 million and not the foreign exchange losses.
He said: “I am privy to other debts such as the FX (foreign exchange) losses but that is not what this process is committed to resolving…we are using over recoveries on the world market price to pay under recoveries”.
But responding angrily to Mr Kasambata’s assertion yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer for the Chamber of BDCs, Senyo Horsi said the amount quoted by the NPA was “just a fraction” of government’s total indebtedness to the BDCs.
He stated:“We have over GHȼ1.5 billion outstanding that is yet to be paid by government.”
According to him, the chunk of the debt was due to variations in the exchange rate which was the result of the huge loss in the value of the local currency against major foreign trading currencies last year.
Another factor Mr Horsi added was the fact that the distributing companies were forced by the government to sell the products at a fixed price even when they bought it at a higher price on the international market.
In a related development, Occupy Ghana, a leading pressure group has called on the NPA to publish how it arrived at a 10 % reduction on the petroleum products in the country.
The group maintained that the recent 10% reduction by the NPA was not enough.
A member of Occupy Ghana, Sydney Casely Hayford told radio stations in Accra that the pressure group would officially write to the NPA to demand answers as to why it decided to reduce fuel prices by just 10 % before taking further action against NPA.
“…We will ask the NPA to disclose publicly the entire mechanism through which it calculated and arrived at the 10 percent reduction. We think people have a right to know, they should tell us…,” he stated.
“…we are also going to ask them to tell us how the tax was applied because most of the levies that were applied to the ex refinery price are already statutorily defined levies per act of Parliament so they have to explain why we are having to pay double of what we already have..”Casley Hayford added.
African Eye News.com
