From the beginning of the year, Ghanaians have had to pay more for transport fares due to fluctuation in the prices of fuel on the world market which affect prices at the pumps locally.
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Here's the number of times transport fares have increased this year alone
Just like the prices of other goods and services, transport fares have also increased several times this year alone.
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On Saturday, February 26, there was a 15% increase in the cost of transport.
The transport unions wanted a 30 percent upward adjustment but after a meeting with stakeholders on Monday, 21 February 2022, the operators agreed to a 15 percent increment.
Then, in May 2022, transportation fares went up again by 20% after the prices of petrol and diesel shot up to a national average of GH¢9.41 and GH¢11.12, respectively.
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According to data from the energy think-tank Institute of Energy Security (IES), the increase in pump prices of fuel at the time was 288 per cent since January 2017.
The latest increment which took effect on October 29, 2022, has seen Ghanaians paying 19% more for their transport costs.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) said that the increment was necessitated by the continuous soaring of prices of petroleum products at the various fuel pumps – a domino effect of price hikes on the world market.
At the time of the increment, diesel and petrol were selling for over GH¢18 and GH¢15 respectively at major fuel pumps; a situation transport operators say was eroding their profit.
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Meanwhile, fuel prices increased again just about three days after the latest transport fare increase.
Currently, diesel is selling at GHC 23.49 while petrol is selling at GHC 17.99 at the pumps.
The latest increase in fuel prices will see prices of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) go up as well, according to the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC).
It remains unclear if the transport operators will want to increase fares following the latest fuel price hikes. What is clear, however, is that the suffering of Ghanaians continues to get severer by the day due to these increments in prices of goods and services as their earnings remain the same.
If the trend of fuel price increase continues, there is likely to be another transport fare hikes before the year 2022 ends.
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