MONROVIA: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has announced that anyone caught selling gasoline above the regulated price will be penalized in accordance with the laws of Liberia.
It can be recalled that on Monday, January 27, major distributors of petroleum products, especially gasoline dealers, shut down their facilities with signs placed at their filling stations stating, “no gas for now.”
Commerce Minister Wilson Tarpeh in his weekly press briefing said:
“Since the insertion of the George Weah administration, the price of gasoline has been 650 Liberian dollars. The government wish is to maintain the price at that rate with no intention to increase the price of gasoline and fuel.”
Meanwhile Minister Tarpeh revealed that about 1,500 gallons of gasoline and some petroleum dealers have been arrested for increasing the price of the commodity.
According to the Commerce minister, the arrested petroleum is in the possession of the Ministry pending investigation.
Minister Tarpeh said the Ministry has also been reliably informed about other smaller filling stations that are selling gasoline at an amount of 1,400 and above, while promising to go after them.
Recently, the Management of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) notified the general public that there is a sufficient quantity of diesel and gasoline supply in the country to meet the domestic market demand.
As a result of the situation, many filling stations across Ganta increase the price of gasoline to L$1,000 for a gallon, but the price of diesel was not mentioned.
Meanwhile several commercial motorcyclists expressed regret over the sharp rise in the price of gas, something they described as exploitation by vendors.
“We are not running our bikes to purchase gasoline, we need profit to support our family,” said one Eric, a motorcyclist.
The Ministry of Commerce has assured Liberians of working diligently to bring another consignment of gasoline with measures put in place to prevent the shortage of petrol on the Liberian market.
