The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has again increased fuel prices (petrol and diesel) this morning.
This is the second increase in just under a week.
ZERA announced in a statement today that a litre of petrol will now cost ZWL$7.45, a 22% jump from ZWL$6.10 dollars.
Diesel now costs ZWL$7.19 a litre, a near similar rise to the petrol increase at 23%.
“Please be advised that the fuel prices effective Monday, 22 July 2019 are as follows; Diesel ZWL$7.19, Blend E20 ZWL$7.47,” said ZERA.
Calculations show that both petrol and diesel prices have gone up by 456% so far to date as inflationary pressures continue to dog the economy, moreso after the fiscal authorities last month moved to end the multicurrency system and installed the Zimbabwe dollar as the country’s sole.
Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said in recent weeks that the price of fuel is low, and ideally it should rise to a point where it at least matches regional and international averages.
With the official circa 1:8 between the United States dollar and the Zimbabwe dollar, the new price of fuel remains below US$1 dollar, making it among the cheapest in the region and abroad.
well it seems our government in particular the finance minister is comparing the price at regional level which is fair and fine, but how about comparing the quality of the fuel as well? We are getting highly blended fuel which might mean for correct calculation, we need to first calculate the real value in the local amount of actual blend (unblended) and see if we are actually not charging more.
If store Y sells a 2l-bottle of mazoe @ 20rtgs and store X sells same 2l-bottle of ‘40% diluted’ mazoe @ 18rtgs who sells cheaper?