ANOTHER BLOW FOR CONSUMERS AS FUEL PRICES HIKE

MBABANE – It’s yet another blow for consumers as the price of fuel will hike again.

Government has announced that the price of fuel will hike by up to E1, with effect from today midnight. The previous hike was a month ago. According to Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, Dorcas Dlamini, the price of petrol will increase by 50 cents per litre, while diesel and paraffin prices will increase by E1 per litre. “The main reason for the fuel price increases is due to the crude oil price increase, which reached an average of US$118.82 per barrel in March, 2022, from an average of US$92.82 in the month of February, 2022 as a result of the disruption in the oil supply caused mainly by the recent Russian and Ukraine conflict thus putting pressure on the international fuel product prices.

Improvement

The Lilangeni/Dollar exchange rate remained high at an average of E15.07, showing slight improvement from an average of E15.25 realised in the month of February 2021,”she said. She mentioned that the international oil market situation of very high crude oil prices necessitated higher fuel increases locally, of E2.20 per litre for petrol, E3.50 for diesel and E3.50 for paraffin, however, the government provided funds amounting to E80 million to cushion the fuel price increases.  “This allowed for these marginal increases hence reducing the impact to the consumer and protecting the economy in the process. The ministry encourages the public to use fuel efficiently as the international oil markets and the Lilangeni / Dollar exchange rate remain volatile,” she said.

In an interview with the Chairman of the Consumer Association of Eswatini, Bongani Mdluli, he stated that although they appreciated the effort by government to caution the prices, it was a pity that while the prices hiked, salaries did not. He said this would result in an unfortunate situation, which included retrenchments.  “This will be a black Thursday for consumers. We appreciate the efforts made by government to caution the prices but we are also worried about the consumers, as while fuel and other basic commodities increase in pricing, their salaries are still at a standstill,” he said.

Worth noting is that on Tuesday, South Africa  also announced a fuel price hike. According to reports by SABC news, the South African Government intervened through reducing  general fuel levy, which according to them provided much-needed relief for motorists, with another fuel price increase looming. SA Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced a temporary emergency intervention to reduce the general fuel levy by R1.50 per litre, to cushion the blow on cash-strapped consumers. Without this intervention, the price of petrol and diesel would go up by close to R2 and R3 respectively. An economist, who spoke on condition of anonymity said consumers should use money sparingly during these uncertain times. “Things are not looking good at all. We are likely to see a hike in prices for many commodities which will be caused by the increase in fuel prices,” the economist said.

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