The Zimbabwe Regulatory Authority (Zera) has hiked fuel
prices with effect from Monday next week amid a serious shortage of both petrol
and diesel, leaving motorists stranded at empty pumps.
In a statement yesterday, Zera said the petrol pump price
will increase marginally to ZWR$3,41 per litre starting Monday due to a slight
increase in the free on board (FOB) price.
The increase in the FOB price for petrol will be to 0,5632
cents from this week’s 0,5493 cents.
The diesel pump prices will remain unchanged despite a
decline in the fuel’s FOB price to 0,6169 cents from this week’s 0,6171. The
FOB price is a charge in the fuel-cost-build-up as determined by international
market forces at the port of delivery for the fuel.
“Please note that these figures take into account the
revised excise duty, representing the maximum FOB and pump prices for the
different fuels. Operators may however, sell at prices below the cap depending
on their trading advantages,” Zera said.
A survey conducted by NewsDay in Harare yesterday showed
that filling stations had long winding queues with a few lucky vehicles filling
up on the scarce commodity. Many service stations had no fuel at all.
In January this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa hiked
fuel prices by over 150% to ZWR$3,31 per litre for petrol while diesel was
pegged at ZWR$3,11 per litre.
But since then retailers have been hiking the product by a
cent almost every Monday while the government remained silent.
Filling stations are currently trading fuel at a price
between ZWR$3,34 and ZWR$3,40 while diesel between ZWR$3,15 per litre and
ZWR$3,25 per litre. At the newly-opened service station along Samora Machel
Avenue in Harare vehicles were meandering for a long distance through to
Belvedere area.
“The queue is very long and one would think twice before
joining it, but the fortunate thing is that it’s moving very fast. We are in
the transport business and the time factor matters, hence a few hours lost in
the queue affects the overall business and our timetables,” a public transport
operator said.
Passengers Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) president Tafadzwa
Goliathi said: “As the PAZ, we are not happy with what is going in the country,
it is the ordinary citizens who suffer from decisions by the government. We did
a survey in the morning (Tuesday) and we found out that passengers were
stranded. From Mabvuku to town kombis were going for ZWR$2,50 while Chitungwiza
to town it was ZWR$4.”
But Energy minister Joram Gumbo insisted that there were
enough fuel stocks in the country.
“If you know the mandate of my ministry you would
understand the situation of fuel shortages. My mandate is to facilitate
companies that bring in fuel not to provide the money needed to buy the fuel,”
Gumbo said.
“For procurement, that is the responsibility of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Finance. There is plenty and enough stocks
of fuel at Msasa and Mabvuku. In Beira also fuel is being pumped into the
country.” Newsday
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