Congolese Government wants to strengthen pump price control for oil

Imprimer

Brazzaville, Congo, August 20 (Infosplusgabon) - Congolese Oil minister Jean Marc Thystère Tchicaya announced on Tuesday in Brazzaville that the government intends to strengthen fuel price regulation at the pump by setting up a technical committee responsible for proposals related to fuel prices and distribution.

 

The downstream technical committee will bring together the main players in Congo's oil sector, including the Congolese refining company (Coraf), the manufacture of oil products, Congo's National Petroleum Corporation (SNPC), public and private marketers and the responsible minister.

 

This structure, whose activities were interrupted since 2009, has the main task of sending proposals to the responsible minister for revision of prices at the pump, depending on the economic situation and local realities.

 

As for the price proposal, the last regulation was in 2008. According to the Congolese Ministry of Oil, the relaunch of this structure is one of the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

 

"I expect committee members to rigorously carry out the regulatory missions so that efficient solutions are proposed to address the problems of the downstream oil sector, taking into account the IMF's recommendations" Tchicaya said.

 

Current regulations are precise on the procurement procedure, explained Alphonse Obami, adviser to the minister responsible for oil downstream and chairman of the technical committee.

 

"The committee makes all recommendations in this area to make procurement more reliable. This means that Coraf products must be purchased first when they are available. Procurement is therefore a responsibility of the state",  Obami said.

 

The technical committee meets monthly. The recurrent shortage of fuel, particularly in Brazzaville, is one of the issues awaiting this structure.

 

 

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/PPL/GABON2019

 

 

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