The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says a planned increase in transport fares by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has been suspended following engagements between the government and transport operators.
The discussions come amid rising fuel costs after recent increases in petroleum product prices, which have placed additional pressure on commercial transport operators.
The NPA recently increased the price floor for petrol and diesel as international petroleum market pressures continued. The development has raised concerns about the possible effect of higher fuel prices on transport fares and inflation.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, NPA Chief Executive Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe said he was “greatly worried” about the possible impact of higher transport fares on the public.
He said he had been engaging transport operators together with the Minister for Transport to address the situation.
“I’m greatly worried. Greatly worried in a sense that together with the Minister for Transport, we’ve been engaging the transport operators, and the whole idea is that government has been doing so well.”
Mr. Tamakloe explained that transport operators face several major operating costs, including vehicle maintenance, spare parts, fuel and wages.
“For transport business, there are three essential things that you always want to look at: the cost of maintaining the freight, the cost of spare parts. Not only that, the cost of running the business, that’s fuel cost.”
He added that wages, insurance and other operating expenses had remained largely stable, making fuel prices the main recent source of cost pressure for operators.
“What has become impactful now has to do with the fuel price.”
According to the NPA Chief Executive, government measures have also helped to absorb some of the cost pressures facing transport operators.
He said the relative stability of the cedi had reduced the potential impact of foreign exchange costs, while government interventions had periodically helped cushion the effect of rising petroleum prices.
“The cedi stability has absorbed potential cost for you from the forex end. That’s government’s intervention. Now government is also coming in to cushion periodically the impact of the increase in prices.”
Mr. Tamakloe said these considerations had formed part of the discussions between government and transport operators.
“So we have jaw-jawed with the various transport owners that there is a time for us to also bear the share,”
He said the engagements had so far helped prevent an immediate increase in transport fares.
“And that is why you notice that the attempt to increase the price or increase fares has basically been put on ice.”
Mr Tamakloe commended the leadership of the GPRTU and other transport associations for their cooperation and constructive discussions with government.
“I think that the GPRTU, and I salute their leadership, the PROTOA and all those other people, that so far we have had some constructive engagement with them, which has greatly been impactful.”
However, he acknowledged that some transport operators had gone ahead to increase fares despite the ongoing discussions.
“There are some a few there are a few recalcitrant ones that have decided to increase their prices arbitrarily.”