The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has officially announced that fuel prices have been increased just four days after a previous increase.
This comes as a shock to many as one would not expect a price hike, especially in US dollars. Yet ZERA has announced that the new fuel prices are now $1.68 for Diesel and $1.67 for the blend. In local currency, a litre of diesel is now Z$218.01 and petrol Z$216.78 up from Z$195.99 and Z$195.72 respectively.
ZERA mentioned the increase of oil prices on the international market due to the ripple effects of the war against Ukraine by Russia. International oil prices have jumped significantly over the past week as global sanctions cripple Russia’s ability to export crude oil following its invasion of Ukraine.
The general fear is that these fuel prices increases might get out of hand and we will soon find ourselves paying over 2 US dollars per litre soon. This will also affect the cost of other things like food, transport costs etc. ZUPCO recently increased their ticket prices and this change by ZERA may cause another ticket increase.