Friday, March 29, 2024

Weak Kwacha and Oil price increase triggers Fuel price hike

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The Energy Regulation Board has adjusted upwards the pump price of fuel effective last night citing changes in two main variables that influence the price of the commodity.

In a statement issued by ERB Board Chairman Raymond Mpundu last evening, he stated that oil prices had increased on the international market whilst the Kwacha had depreciated.

“Specifically, from the last price adjustment on 17th October 2017, Murban crude oil prices per barrel increased by 9.04% from US$58.10/bbl to US$63.35/bbl in November 2017, reaching US$64.85/bbl by December 2017. Further, since the last price adjustment in October 2017, the Kwacha has depreciated against the United States Dollar by about 2.15% from an average rate of K9.76/US$ down to the December 2017/January 2018 level between K9.97/US$ and K10.03/US$,” read the statement.

“Of the two fundamentals, the International oil price has been the most volatile and is the key driver for this price adjustment. Notably, prices have been remained stable since October 2017. Therefore, it has been five months since the ERB last adjusted the pump prices. It should be noted that in order to ensure cost recovery following the removal of subsidies on fuel prices, and the policy of periodic reviews of fuel prices, the Board has determined that prices be revised as follows: Petrol from K12.97 to K13.75, Diesel K11.09 to K12.01, Kerosine K7.82 to K8.85 and LSG K13.38 to K14.30.”

He stated that the price adjustment was based on the current cargo.

“The price adjustment of less than K1.00 per liter for all the petroleum products except Kerosene is inevitable in order to maintain the security of supply. The ERB will endeavor to work jointly with other stakeholders to explore avenues for maintaining price stability and possibly lower prices whilst maintaining price recovery,” stated Mpundu.

41 COMMENTS

    • This is because of an outward uncontrollable surge in prices.

      Watch the ill educated blame PF on here.

      Thanks

      BB2014,2016

    • Oil has been increased on the international market. This is all due to pf weak policues. And ecl will be blamed for the increase of the product at the international market. Kambwili used to say its global.

    • During campaigns we were promised a K5 per litre Saudi Arabia deal, and at the same time we heard about the goat deal, how many goats have been exported to Saudi Arabia so far? I need an answer from ndanje aka njimbu, or Br Mumba aka kakolwe.

    • Elo lanyards nomba.
      Under visionless cholera PF of corrupt Lungu~sha economy into dununa reverse, the whole country will be sold out to the chochoz.
      Violent PF of visionless Lungu brings hunger, poverty, suffering & disease whilst corruption has fermented to its highest level. The economy has plummet & violent & visionless Lungu’s PF is now adding chlorine to the poor zambians suffering.
      No 3rd term for Lungu after the rigged 2016 elections were he failed to hand over power to the speaker according to the constitution which visionless himself sighed with a wrong date.
      The Skeleton Key
      ~206~

    • someone put it well,why when there is a hike its ERB increased price and when there is a reduction it is Government reduced prices.

  1. Why should the hike in fuel be announced a few hours before the come into effect? Why should the fuel hike an emergency? We know prices will be increased at some point but the haphazard manner this is done is something I will not blindly applaud the government. I leave that to cadres.

  2. Weak Lungu-nomics triggers Zambia’s economic stagnation.It sucks to have clueless captains in charge of the Zambian ship.

  3. In order to stabilize the price of petroleum products, remove middle men. The ERB is one of them.This has been reaping money just for announcing the price hikes. What is is its core business? If there is no price increase / reduction announcement what else does this organisation do? Is it not just part of increasing employment? it is organisations like this that are increasing the price of oil. the oil refinery was built to bring down costs, what value are we getting from it other than saying the thing is right now obsolete , requires overhaul etc. Why don’t we just buy refined oil from South Africa which is cheap? The ERB should stop cheating people. When the price of oil is increased it does not mean we feel the ripples immediately. what is the importance of contracts we sign? Aint…

  4. He that works in the fields, feeds from the same field. Alas, take heed not to eat the seed also….. ‘African Proverb’

  5. Lungu has just failed to govern,the man has been given a mandate to work and control things he is just busy yapping that he is working, this is sad. He is inflicting pain to citizens each day that comes. Shame upon us

  6. “It’s not by coincidence that the fundamentals are at their best; it’s because we care and consult before making plans and we listen. There was a time that people thought and believed that the PF was full of people who knew nothing but look at what we have done! We have transformed the economy. We knew that you wouldn’t have trusted us but we said that we will listen to you. People were saying, ‘no, we will drive this country to a halt’.ECL The Mast 12th Feb 2018.
    what fundamentals?this is the second increment in under 6 months…

  7. To balance up z equation just accelerate Ubomba muibala otherwise you will suffocate country men and women. More money in your pocket slogan @ work. pro poor.

  8. Bakoswe zoona, dununa reverse, ubomba mwibala alya mwibala, tekupwisha ne mbuto. Whoever is still denying that we have clueless cannons in government should wake up and smell the coffee. This bunch of charlatans, masquerading as leaders will destroy this country to the core. They are selling everything, colleges, parks, islands, mukula, the list is endless. Zambians , wake up before its too late. Everything will soon go up. Cry my beloved country.

    • God gave dominion to man on earth so it is man and not God who should control things on earth. The problem is we are pathetic failures and we are just wondering in the jungle country called Zambia. I like Zambians. Very good at analysing issues and zero when it comes to implementation. That is where the problem is. The jackals know that Zambians just talk.They will continue eating until we run out of breath.

  9. This is how dull upnd members can be!!
    PF is not the first party to rule Zambia.
    From 1964 fuel prices have kept on going up and it will be so even under future Govnts because (1)Zambia has no own oil,(2) our kwacha will keep on changing,(3)we are far from oil mining countries,(4) Govnts keep on using middlemen (5)we are a landlocked country,etc!!!
    So even if HH won,fuel prices could have continued changing!!!
    WE ARE NOT DULL LIKE YOU TONGA PARTY CADRES-NO!!!PF Govnt would not just love to push Zambians with high fuel prices-never!!
    However, ECL could do us better by removing middlemen from the fuel chain then do Govnt to Govnt fuel contracts-this can cause fuel prices to drop down a bit.BUT GENERALLY,FUEL IN ZAMBIA WILL NEVER BE AS CHEAP AS IN RUSSIA,SAUDI…

    • You are wasting oxygen on earth, you just woke up and all your could find time for is HH and tongas, do you need some piece work?

    • Im inclined to think Njimbu is an automated Spam Bot that is programmed to comment about HH 24/7. Who is talking about HH here? It is you same one who is indirectly campaigning for HH the more you bring his name even where he is not mentioned!Remove the middlemen please! Higher fuel prices translate into higher costs of doing business. Higher costs do not segregate by party lines. Everyone gets affected in one way or the other. A little while ago there was talk of increasing the salaries of civil servants, but this fuel increment has just cancelled that. This world does not revolve around you and your passion/hatred for HH

  10. The weak kwacha is caused by many factors but the biggest is our incompetent government led by our corrupt president Edgar Lungu!

    • What weak Kwacha is this clown talking about?

      ” the Kwacha has depreciated against the United States Dollar by about 2.15% from an average rate of K9.76/US$ down to the December 2017/January 2018 level between K9.97/US$ and K10.03/US$,” read the statement.”

      Really ????? TODAY’S Kwacha rate is K9.75 !!!!!! Mpundu is either clueless, incompetent or just to dull to find out the ACTUAL exchange rate! Or maybe he is just collecting money for the bakoswe mumopoto?

  11. the price for murban crude to day is $61.30 kwacga to dollar 9.77. Brent crude is $63. So why base price on brent crude when we are buying from murban. Who pockets the difference?

  12. This increment that follows a very recent series of increments doesn’t make sense. This is why Habaazoka says educated people have let down Zambia.

    Our Zambian economists know very well about financial instruments such as Forward Contracts where the price and supply is secured by way of an agreement that covers the period ahead of actual supply. But why haven’t they used such instruments???

    Sad state of affairs!

  13. Where are we heading Mwebantu? Thought we could use gensets after 75% ZESCO increment but alas, there is increment in fuel price! We have been chased from the street where we were earning something. Our children have no chance to repeat and if one fails grade 9, they have to repeat to grade 6 or pay through the nose to sit for external exams! We did not receive fertilizer and for some that received, it came at the wrong time! Is this a dream which we are going to wake up from in 2021?

  14. Government should bring back subsidies we are not benefiting since it was removed. When fuel prices are announced taxi drivers jumps and increase transport even before buy new fuel stupid

  15. Murban crude oil prices per barrel increased by 9.04% from US$58.10/bbl to US$63.35/bbl in November 2017, reaching US$64.85/bbl by December 2017.

    When did fuel price increases started to be based on crude oil prices? If this is the case, why were fuel prices not reduced when crude oil reached $30.00 per barrel? Is this a one way bet?

  16. When Pilato sung that song bakoswe munpoto ba PF were up in arms trying to cruciffy him but here we are buying the same cost of fuel. The cost of those useless fire tenders coupled with the cost ambulances surely could have cushioned this price increase for some time if at all we had a govt that cares for its people but what we have in the leadership is a copy cat. Useless bunch of jokers.

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