‘BOST Margin will not be taken off anytime soon’ – Energy Minister assures
The Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has assured that government will judiciously use the BOST Margin.
The margin is a tax imposed on petroleum products, which is used to cover the maintenance and operating cost of petroleum product depots and expansion programs at the depots.
Currently, it stands at nine pesewas per liter of fuel.
The Minister, speaking at the first Annual General Meeting of Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Limited Company, pledged not to scrap the margin after outlining some of the projects that the BOST margin has been able to cover.
“The increase in the BOST Margin from six pesewas to nine pesewas per litre in 2021 aided the company to undertake the following major repair works among others; 12 out of 15 dissolution tanks were brought back to life, upgrade and replacement of loading valves across all the depots, Buipe-Bolgatanga petroleum product pipeline was restored, new Tema-Akosombo petroleum product pipeline were bought from Houston and the Bolgatanga petroleum export depot was revived.”
“I can promise that the BOST Margin is not going to be taken off petroleum products anytime soon. We’ll use the margin efficiently and effectively to protect the citizenry against private sector interests,” he pledged.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh also assured of government’s commitment to ensuring fuel security in the country.
This comes amidst recent concerns of fuel shortages in the country following external situations like the Russia-Ukraine war.
To facilitate this, the Minister highlighted the importance of revamping the Tema Oil Refinery to support the supply of fuel in the country.
Meanwhile, the company achieved massive increases in operational profit from GHS1.9 million in 2020 to over GHS163 million in 2021.
Source: Ghana Business
