Zimbabwe government condemns latest fuel price increases

HARARE, May 28  — Zimbabwe’s cabinet on Tuesday criticized the latest round of fuel price increases and warned that regulators will be out in full force to enforce the law.

Some service stations on Tuesday increased the price of fuel to as high as 7 RTGS dollars per liter, up from about 5 dollars.The latest price increase comes within a week after energy regulator, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority on Monday last week increased the price of petrol from 3.35 RTGS dollar per liter to 4.97 dollars.

This was a day after the central bank scrapped the subsidized exchange rate for fuel imports of 1:1 between the local currency and the U.S. dollar, which had remained in place after the bank introduced the inter-bank foreign exchange market in February.

While the local currency debuted at 2.5 to the U.S. dollar on the inter-bank market in February, it has since weakened to about 5 on the inter-bank market and to around 7 on the black market.

While prices of fuel are going up, the commodity remains in short supply as the nation is facing foreign currency shortages to import adequate supplies. – XINHUA