ERB increases Fuel price

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has increased the price of petroleum products by K1.20 for petrol and K3.04 for diesel while the price of paraffin has been reduced by 65 ngwee effective midnight today.

The new price for one litre of petrol is K22.74 from K21.54 while that of low sulfur diesel is K26.16 from K23.12 and a litre of kerosene will now cost K16.06 from K16.71.

Jet A-1 fuel will now cost K26.69 per litre from K26.50.

ERB Board Chairperson, Reynolds Bowa announced the adjustment of the pump price of petroleum products at a press briefing in Lusaka today.

Mr. Bowa further announced that the board has also commenced the full regulation of retail price of Jet A -1 at airports, which will be determined by applicable prices on a monthly basis.

He stated that the regulated Jet A-1 price has been set at K20.69 per litre for the month of October,2022.

Mr. Bowa said the regulation on Jet A-1 prices have been necessitated by the need to attain regional competitiveness.

He noted that the changes in the pump prices and the posted airfield price are due to trends in the global petroleum prices and the exchange rate of the United States dollars to the Zambian Kwacha in the period between the last and the current price review.

“Specifically, international oil prices continued to decline due to the global slowdown. This is aimed at concerns of inflationary pressure worldwide, anticipated slowdown of global economic growth and continued fears of global recession,” he explained.

Mr. Bowa further said during the review period, the Zambian Kwacha continued to appreciate mainly due to increased supply of foreign exchange on the market on the backdrop of the continued positive market sentiments following the conclusion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) package in August 2022.

He explained that since the last price review in August, the Kwacha appreciated month on month by 3.23 percent from an average of K16.12 per United States dollar to K15.60 per United States dollar.

“In September 2022, government issued statutory instrument No.59 on value added tax (VAT) and No.44 of 2022 on customs and excise duty in order to restore taxes on Petroleum products which were revised in January 2021. The taxes which have been restored are excise duty and VAT,” Mr. Bowa said.

The ERB Board Chairperson said the government has restored excise duty from K0.64 per litre to K2.07 per litre while VAT has been restored from zero percent to 16 percent on petrol.

Mr. Bowa added that on diesel, the government has also restored excise duty from zero Kwacha per litre to K0.66 per litre while VAT has been restored from zero percent to 16 percent.

He said this is in line with ERB pricing mechanism, the combined effectiveness of the charges in the three factors exchange rate, international oil prices and taxes which has resulted in the determined charges in the national uniform pump prices for October.

[Lusaka Times]