Over the “long” Heroes and Defense forces day weekend the government tweaked the price of fuel again. Diesel is now selling at $9.27 ZWL up from $9.06 ZWL while Petrol had a more modest 8 cents increase from $9.01 to $9.09 ZWL.
The government stated that they would want fuel prices to be around $1 USD hence the frequent price increases. Last time the government made the adjustment of fuel prices in one single adjustment there was rioting. Perhaps in a bid to avoid this, they have opted for smaller more frequent adjustments.
| Diesel (ZWL/Litre) | Blend E20 (ZWL/Litre) |
|
|---|---|---|
| FOB Price | 0.6045 | 0.5783 |
| Exchange rate | 7.5000 | 7.5000 |
| Duty ZIMRA (9.796) | 2.6777 | 2.8969 |
| Oil Company Margin | 0.4906 | 0.4808 |
| Dealer Margin | 0.6067 | 0.5946 |
| Maximum Pump Price | 9.27 | 9.09 |
Are transport costs the reason for shortages
Despite these frequent prices increases fuel shortages have remained. Throughout Harare and other major towns there are queues stretching for kilometres as motorists wait to fill up.
One rumor for the shortages is that when they do their calculations for what service stations can charge, the government is not including transport costs as you can see from above. Given their already low margins, fuel companies, the explanation goes, cannot afford to transport the fuel to their service stations creating a shortage.
[…] cheaper than Petrol. It’s just one of those facts of life that is pretty much established. In the two latest price hikes however, ZERA has priced diesel higher than petrol. […]