Today the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority announced the October prices for fuel as they promised to do yesterday. Unfortunately, the latest prices are higher than September pump prices. This means that motorists, transporters and businesses are going to be paying more too. This will ultimately translate into price increases.

September 2021 prices versus

ItemZWL$USD$
Blend Petrol (E10)118.421.38
Diesel115.151.34

Starting 5 October 2021 motorists will be now required to pay as much as US$1.38 per litre of diesel and US$1.40 per litre of petrol. As usual, the ZERA published ZWL prices for fuel but these are pretty much useless. Not one service station we know sells their fuel in ZWL. They all sell in USD. This is despite the government allocating USD to fuel companies on the foreign currency auction.

The bit of good news is that motorists are unlikely going to be paying these prices. Thanks to depressed demand and competition most service stations sell their fuel at prices well below these advertised prices. If you want to pay less you will do well to go to offroad service stations as those close to busy roads tend to be more expensive.

Expect the prices of goods to go up too

Fuel is an integral part of business operations. It is used when transporting goods and sometimes to power essential backup generators thanks to frequent ZESA powercuts. With an increase in fuel prices, you can expect the prices of most goods to rise up too.