Pres. Weah Annonces Reduction in Petroleum Price

Monrovia – President George Manneh Weah Thursday, July 19, announced the immediate reduction in the price of petroleum by US$14₵. By this, the price of petroleum will reduce from its current L$590 to L$540.

Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected]

Making the announcement, Pres. Weah said his administration is aware of the escalating prices of basic commodities on the Liberia Market and his government will continue to take measures that would reduce the hard cost of living faced by Liberians as part of his government’s pro-poor policy.

In June 2018, the government took a decision to reduce the tariff on chicken feet, pig feet, vegetable oil and mosquito coil that are on a list of 2,000 commodities affected by the decision is yielding little or no impact as prices continue to increase.

Pres. Weah on May 24, 2018, gave a three-day ultimatum to the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) to reduce tariff on 2,000 commodities.

The move was to ease the economic burden on ordinary Liberians, who buy these items daily for consumption.

But the intention behind the reduction is still far from been met as the prices of these items still remain the same or have increased.

Some Liberians are blaming the situation on the devaluation of the Liberian dollar against the US dollar; while others are arguing that the government’s decision to cut tariff without assessing the impact was a misstep.

Speaking to FrontPage Africa, a cross-section of Liberian business people in the Red Light, Duala and Gardnersville markets expressed frustration about the increased in prices of commodities that tariffs were reduced from.

Some marketers called on the Weah-led government to put “words into action,” by demanding major importers to adhere to government’s mandate.