The government has received a request from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to rename the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy in order to better represent the levy’s intended use.

According to Abass Tasunti, Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the public’s perception of the levy is misled by its current name.

Speaking on Thursday, on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show, Abass Tasunti informed Bernard Avle that the NPA is asking for the name change because external factors like exchange rates make it impossible to stabilize the price.

“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 price is to subsidize 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.”

Abass Tasunti also discussed the causes of the recent increases in the cost of petroleum products.

“Levies, taxes, 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 forces of the international market and the exchange rates,” he said, attributing the hikes to these factors.