Post a comment
The Government of Sierra Leone continues to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and accountability through the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) by transferring gains reflected from the drop in international oil prices to consumers.
Retail pump prices are now Le19.50 from Le21 in Dec 2022.
This is something worthy of trust from the consumers considering that prices normally suffers from downward rigidity coupled with government budgetory demands.
This reduction though not expected was a good new years gift.
Despite the fact that there is no government participation in the supply chain at the moment, President Bio’s government has been ensuring the availability and stabilization of petroleum products amidst global challenges by giving the needed and timely support to Oil Marketing Companies. This has helped to mitigate the adverse effect of global twin shocks of the Corona pandemic and the Russia/ Ukraine war on the country’s economy.
“Sierra Leone is a net importing country that depends on global supply of refined petroleum products. We have been assuring Sierra Leoneans that whatever gains or improvement we record along the supply chain, will definitely reflect on the retail pump prices in Sierra Leone. It is the trading currency USDollar and Platts that principally determines the movement of refined products prices at the pump.
From the 1st Quarter of 2022, the USD has been rallying strength against the Leone consistently.
This appreciation of the counterpart currency (USD) erodes any major drop in Oil prices, however, since the Global Oil prices have recorded some improvements on the platts, government has adjusted the retail prices accordingly so that consumers will have value for money,” says the Executive Chairman of PRA, Brima Baluwa Koroma.
Reacting to the new price, commercial drivers and passengers commended government for such a move at a time when the world is battling economic challenges.
“Now that the price of fuel has been reduced, we also pray for it to reflect on transportation because drivers always charge high fare because of fuel,” Hassan Koroma, a trader from Makeni said.
Commercial drivers commended the move and called on the agency to monitor the implementation of such price in all gas stations across the country.
In terms of government interventions, Chairman Baluwa assured that the sector is very critical to the government and interventions have been made to cushion the burden on consumers.
Through the Central Bank, government has been continuously supporting oil marketing companies with foreign currency availability since their monthly demand could not be met by commercial banks.
“Since the trading pattern has changed due to the Russia Ukraine war, oil importers are now under pressure to get the available products on spot. This requires them to compete with other nations with high trading capitals meaning that any delay in getting the required forex, will reflect at the gas stations which we want to avoid. Another thing worth noting is that government continues to subsidize retail pump prices to mitigate the impact of global shocks,” he said.
As he reminded all operators of the consequences for defaulting regulations, Chairman Baluwa Koroma admonished gas station managers to be ethical and compliant with all petroleum laws by making products available at the stipulated government prices.
