Fuel prices hike again in Zimbabwe

The price of petrol went up by $0.84 cents, Saturday a few days after Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube indicated he would be comfortable with an increase that will bring the precious liquid’s value per litre at par with US$ as the fuel was considerably cheaper than in neighbouring countries.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the biggest fuel price hike in January, a 150% increase, which sparked deadly protests by financially struggling Zimbabweans that left more than a dozen people dead after an army clampdown.

The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority said late on Friday that effective Saturday, petrol would cost 6.10 Zimbabwe dollars ($0.70) a litre, up from 5.26, while the price of diesel had been increased 13% to 5.84 Zimbabwe dollars.

Ncube was quoted in a daily newspaper on Thursday as saying that “The price of fuel is likely to go up, I think what will be ideal is the price of fuel is close to or equivalent to a US$1. That’s the ideal. If you look around the region, that’s the ideal. So we will also get there, but we won’t get

there in a big bang, it has to be gradual, not a big bang as long as we hold the exchange rate”.

While Ncube wants fuel prices to reflect import costs, many Zimbabweans can barely afford to pay them when the unemployment exceeds 80% and the entry-level wage for a government employee is about $49 a month - enough to buy a car tyre.

But with no sign of an end to rolling power cuts in the southern African country, demand for fuel has risen as businesses resort to more expensive diesel-powered generators.

Hopes that living standards would soon improve under Mnangagwa, who came to power after Robert Mugabe was removed in a coup in 2017, have not been realised. Instead, Zimbabweans are frustrated by daily power outages lasting up to 17 hours and severe shortages of U.S. dollars, fuel, bread, and medicines.