Coronavirus: Approve 3% BOST margin – BOST MD

The NPA in December last year reversed its decision to increase the BOST margin on petroleum products by 100 per cent.

The BOST margin which was expected to have been increased by from GH¢0.03 to GH¢0.06 per litre and the UPPF component also get increased by GH¢0.01 to GH¢0.22 per litter.

But Mr Provencal has said the time has come for the margin to be approved especially when oil prices have fallen drastically over the COVID-19.

“As we speak today the prices at the pump are going down every day and so this is the right time to bring the margin because, then, the impact of the consuming public will be very low,” he told journalists.

Mr Kojo Poku, an energy expert who opposed the introduction of the margin last year, also said it should be approved.

“Some of us kicked against it when it was introduced in December. Two weeks before Christmas the BOST margin was introduced and we felt that it was insensitive at that time.

“Going forward we cannot sit back and say that because it was suspended in December it shouldn’t ever come back,” he said.

The Executive Director of the Institute of Energy Security (IES), Pa Kwsi Anamua-Sakyi said if eventually the margin is approved, it should be used for purposes of which it was introduced.

“The application of the money will it be misapplied or they will channel it to the intended purpose that is our major concern. If they will do then they are justified,” he said.