GH¢11.9bn dumsor levy haul beats target by 36%, but the levy does not rise with fuel prices

The fuel levy Ghanaians call the "dumsor levy" brought in GH¢11.9 billion in January to October 2026. That is 36% more than the GH¢8.7 billion programmed for the period, the 2027 Budget shows.

In ten months it collected 99.7% of its full-year revised target of GH¢11.93 billion.

The figures sit behind a fresh row. On 13 November, former finance minister and Karaga MP Dr Mohammed Amin Adam told journalists in Parliament: "We expect our government to provide relief, but our government is providing more costs to us.

This is also because the Dumsor Levy of GH¢1 per litre on fuel continues to stay at a time you and I are paying heavily." TV3 summarised his remarks as a claim that the Government is "benefiting from higher fuel prices" through the levy, and that the administration is "profiting from the public's hardship."

What the law says

The levy's formal name is the Energy Sector Shortfall and Debt Repayment Levy. It is a fixed cedi amount per litre, not a percentage of the price.

Since 2025 it has stood at GH¢1.95 a litre on petrol and GH¢1.93 on diesel, after Parliament added GH¢1 to the older charges it replaced, according to the Ministry of Finance's 2025 tax revenue report. LPG pays GH¢0.73 a kilogram.

So a dearer litre does not raise more of this levy. On the National Petroleum Authority petrol floor of GH¢15.39 for 1 to 15 November, as compiled by Pumply, the levy is 12.7% of the pump price. If petrol rose by GH¢2, the levy would still be GH¢1.95, and its share would fall to 11.2%.

The Government has also suspended the extra GH¢1 on diesel for October and November 2026. For those two months diesel carries GH¢0.93 of this levy, about 5% of the GH¢17.41 diesel floor.

Where the claim has a point

The levy is not small. Its ten-month take is twice the GH¢5.85 billion collected in the whole of 2025, when it ran for only part of the year. The 2027 Budget expects GH¢12.3 billion next year, up 3.2%.

Higher world prices can help the Treasury in a different way. Upstream oil and gas receipts reached GH¢13.5 billion in January to October, 19.1% above target. The Budget does not say how much of that came from prices rather than output.

What people on X are saying

The @tv3_ghana post drew more than 11,000 views. Several replies made the same point.

"But that levy is GH₵1.00. so how does a higher fuel price leads to a higher levy?" asked @Chief_Manu1. @PeteLartey wrote: "The dumsor levy is Gh1.00 per litre so how will Government benefit is fuel prices rise?" @Mukhtar_Zibo noted it "has even been suspended", though that applies to diesel only.

@odekro reported that "the GH¢1 'dumsor levy' generated a sum of GH¢11.9B". That figure is for the whole GH¢1.95 levy, not only the GH¢1 added in 2025. Dr Amin Adam also referred to the levy as GH¢1 per litre.

What it means

Motorists pay this levy on every litre, so total collections follow how much fuel is sold, not its price. The 36% beat on target points to bigger volumes, better collection or a cautious target. The Budget does not say which.

Limitations

This piece is about the Energy Sector Shortfall and Debt Repayment Levy only. Other items in the pump-price build-up are not examined here. The January to October figures are provisional.

The Budget does not split collections by product or show the cost of the diesel suspension. Pump prices vary by company and station. The NPA floor prices are as compiled by Pumply, not from an NPA publication saved with this draft.

Sources

• Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Statement, paras 596–598, Appendices 2B and 3B, 12 Nov 2026
• Ministry of Finance, Annual Tax Revenue Performance Report 2025
• Angel Online, 13 Nov 2026
• 3News, 1 Oct 2026
• MyJoyOnline, 1 Oct 2026
• NPA price floors via Pumply, 1–15 Nov 2026
• X posts: @tv3_ghana; @odekro; @Chief_Manu1; @PeteLartey; @Mukhtar_Zibo