By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The government through the Minister for Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori Atta has announced a reduction in the BOST Margin by 2pesewas and also a 50 percent cut in fuel allocation to all appointees.
Mr. Ofori Atta made the announcement today, Thursday, March 24, 2022, in Accra at a press briefing announcing measures to deal with the economic challenges facing Ghana.
On the issue of the fast depreciation of the cedi, Mr. Ofori-Atta insisted that despite the challenges facing the country at the moment, the Cedi is doing better than it did in 2014 and 2015.
According to the Finance Minister, “In spite of it all, the cedi has held under these extreme challenges better than it did in 2014 and 2015. This is because the fundamentals are much stronger.”
The cedi is currently trading beyond 7 cedis to the dollar and 10 cedis to the British Pound.
BOST Margin
BOST Margin is a tax imposed on petroleum products used to cover the maintenance and operating cost of petroleum product depots and undertaking expansion programs at depots.
The BOST Margin has remained at 3 pesewas per litre since 2011. In December 2019, it almost went up to 6 pesewas per litre but the decision was quickly reversed following intense pressure on the government by opposition parties as well as CSOs such as the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC).