HARARE – Zimbabwe increased the price of petrol and diesel on Monday, the seventh such increase in 2019, adding more pressure on citizens grappling with tripple-digit inflation.
In a public notice, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) said a litre of petrol would now cost 9.09 Zimbabwe dollars, up from 9.01 dollars. Diesel now costs ZW$9.27 a litre from 9.06 dollars announced on August 4.
Despite the maximum prices set by ZERA, oil companies appeared to be using different prices. At a Zuva service station at Mac’s Garage in Bulawayo, petrol was retailing for ZW$9.34 and diesel ZW$9.39. At a Glow service station on Khami Road in Bulawayo, petrol was selling for ZW$9.51 while in Gwanda, Matabeleland South, both diesel and petrol were selling at ZW$9.71.
Prices of basic goods and services have more than doubled since June, when the government renamed the RTGS currency as the Zimbabwe dollar, which has been sliding in value amid widespread shortages, including power, fuel and United States dollars.
That has stirred memories among an increasingly impoverished population of economic chaos a decade ago, when rampant money-printing fuelled hyperinflation and forced the country to abandon its currency.
Fuel prices have been increased by more than 500 percent this year, as the value of the local currency has slid. But fuel shortages remain, with motorists spending hours queuing at the pumps.
Demand for fuel has also gone up as businesses use diesel generators due to 18-hour electricity cuts.
The government is trying to end subsidies by raising the price of fuel and electricity tariffs and put its finances on a strong footing, but that has unleashed inflation, eroding salaries and angering workers’ unions.
(Additional reporting Reuters)
