Government re-instate15% tax on fuel

The government on Thursday announced the re-introduction of 15 per cent ad-valorem excise duty on fuel with effect from last Friday, August 17, barely five months after abolishing it.

It said this action "will not alter the existing ex-pump prices of petroleum".

Parliament reinstated the ad-valorem duty in July after the legislature abolished it in February following a motion the Minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo-Maafo brought to the House.

The 15 per cent ad-valorem excise duty of ex-refinery price averages 200 cedis per litre.

A statement issued from the office of the President and said the Ministry of Energy in July this year published a formula that would "adjust ex-refinery prices automatically in line with international prices and the exchange rate of the cedi".

The statement said, "Government will continue to monitor crude oil prices and the exchange rate so as to reintroduce the Excise Duty Specific, hopefully, at a time when similarly favourable conditions can permit the reintroduction".