AFTER weeks of chaos, fuel prices in the country fell by at
most four cents, with Energy minister Joram Gumbo attributing this to a dip in
international crude oil margins.
A survey around Harare showed that most service stations
had reduced petrol prices from $1,43 to $1,39 per litre, with availability
seemingly having stabilised and queues that had become an eyesore no longer
visible.
“We only have a problem with diesel. Petrol supplies have
stabilised. We have enough stocks and that is why maybe the price has fallen.
No retailer wants to hold it for long. The more we sell, the better the
margins. We have been asked to push volumes,” a fuel attendant in Harare said.
Following the announcement of a new monetary regime that
included a 2% transactional tax, Zimbabwe spiralled into fresh economic turmoil
last month, with basic goods disappearing from supermarket shelves.
Shortages of fuel, one of the most important industrial inputs,
also re-appeared, with motorists being forced to queue for the commodity for
long hours on end as government scrambled to deal with the desperate situation.
Gumbo yesterday said prices would continue to fluctuate in
the coming days and weeks.
“We are monitoring international oil prices and when they
fall, our retail prices will follow suit. We will also allow the local market
to determine the prices, but under strict monitoring. If international oil
prices rise, you will see a similar movement here,” he said.
The shortages, which Gumbo last month attributed to
panic-buying, triggered black market trade in the commodity in Harare and other
cities, with illegal fuel dealers cashing in on the crisis, charging as high as
$2 per litre against a pump price of $1,40.
The spiralling United States dollar parallel market went
into meltdown after Finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced a 2% tax on all
electronic transactions, triggering a fresh wave of price increases and
consequently shortages.
In response, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government
capitulated to public demands and indefinitely suspended sections of Statutory
Instrument 122 of 2017 to increase the flow of basic goods into the market,
mainly from neighbouring South Africa, ahead of the festive season and ease
pressure on foreign currency demand on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Newsday
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