The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has attributed the increase in the price of petroleum products to levies charged on them.
The government recently reintroduced the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy after it was briefly suspended leading to a sharp increase in prices.
Abass Tasunti, Head of Economic Regulation at the NPA on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Thursday, April 18, told Bernard Avle “taxes, levies and margins which have remained the same but then the price of crude on the international market has changed and this is purely attributed to the international market forces and the exchange rates.”
He also disclosed that the NPA has submitted a request to the government to change the name of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy to reflect the levy’s real purpose.
The levy, Abass Tasunti said is unable to stabilise prices because it is impossible to do so considering external factors such as exchange rates.
“We have requested the government that the name of the levy should be changed because price cannot be stabilised as long as it is exposed to external forces like exchange rates and so the recommendation is that we should change the name of the levy to reflect its use because there is no way you can stabilise prices.
“The only way you can stabilise the price is to subsidise it and pay for the subsidy and so we have asked that the name be looked at so that the name can reflect the real purpose.”
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