FUEL prices have gone up following an upward adjustment by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB).
A litre will now go for K .74 for petrol, K 7.59 diesel, K 5.40 kerosene and K 10.88 for low sulphur diesel effective midnight of 12 May 2015.
The adjustment means that the prices of
petroleum products have increased by K 1.14 for petrol, K 1.00 for diesel, K 0.71 for kerosene
and K 0.99 for low sulphur diesel.
ERB board chairperson Pastor Geoff
Mwape said the two factors that affect wholesale and pump fuel prices are the
international oil prices and the domestic exchange rates.
“This adjustment is mainly due to the volatility of the
kwacha which resulted in the significant adjustment of the kwacha against the
United States Dollars. Since the last adjustment in January 2015, the kwacha has
ranged between an average of K 6.5 per dollar and K 7.42 per dollar in April
2015. During this period, the kwacha reached an all time high of K 7.8 per
dollar,” Pastor Geoff Mwape said.
Pastor Mwape said periodic price adjustment are essential to
ensure that there is full cost recovery in the supply chain, and thereby ensure
that there is enough to procure future petroleum feedstock cargoes and finished
petroleum products. He added that future price adjustments will be dictated by
changes in the key fundamentals. The ERB will endeavour to automatically adjust
so that cost reflectivity is attained for each and every petroleum feedstock
cargo and imported finished petroleum products.
The last increase in petroleum products was in April 2014.
Between this period to date, a number of fuel reductions were affected, mainly
as a result of falling international oil prices and a fairly stable kwacha.
