THE Minister of Energy, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, has announced that a formula that will adjust ex-refinery prices of fuel automatically in line with international oil prices and the exchange rate of the cedi will be published next week.

“So transparent will the formula be that every Ghanaian living everywhere should be able to do his own calculations to verify future adjustments in ex-refinery prices,” he said.

The Minister was addressing a news conference last Friday after Parliament had rejected a speech he wanted to make after the House had passed the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill 2001 under a certificate of urgency.

The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, ruled that it was improper for the minister to make an instant statement, which was consequential to the amendment that sought to increase the levy on fuel.

The Act removed the existing ad valorem duty of 15 per cent enacted in 1998, replacing it with a new one to enable government to increase the energy levy of one cedi on every litre of petroleum products up to five per litre.

It is also to increase the strategic stock levy of ?10 on every litre of petroleum product to ?30 cedis per litre, while the hydrocarbon exploration levy goes up from ?1.50 to ?3.00 per litre.

The Speaker’s ruling followed an objection by Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader to a motion moved by Mr J.H. Mensah, Majority Leader and Minister of Government Business in support of Mr Kan-Dapaah's statement.

Mr Kan-Dapaah told the press that government has had "exhaustive consultations with all stakeholders in the transport sector and has reached an amicable basis for calculating increases in transport fares".

"I can assure the whole country that our deliberations have yielded very positive returns and that any increase in transport fares will be considerably lower than they have been in the past", he said.

He said out of this, a Transport Council has been formed to offer an avenue for regular consultations between the government and stakeholders to improve the quality and efficiency of transport delivery.

The minister assured the public that adequate steps have been taken to forestall a recurrence of the difficulties that will emanate from the increases.

In a related development, Mr j.h. mensah, Minister of Government Business, said workers should negotiate with the various bodies that represent them for salary increases to mitigate the effect of the fuel price increase.

He was answering questions at the press conference by the Minister of Energy, Mr Kan-Dapaah, on the increase in fuel prices.

He said the government is open and willing to bargain with workers through the Tripartite Committee and their unions and expects them to reciprocate the government's gesture.

Mr Mensah said workers would not be denied their legitimate demands and that the negotiations would not be delayed to bring additional hardships to them following the increase in the fuel prices.

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, said it is not salary increases that would better the conditions of workers, sayng that during the negotiations, other factors would be taken into consideration to cushion them against undue hardships.

Those present included Mr Felix Owusu-Adjapong, Minister of Transport and Communications and some NPP Members of Parliament.