Despite government’s Tsh 250 waiver per liter on fuel to reduce consumer spending, the price of the product has recorded a historic increase’s in recent months.
The Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority(ZURA) said the increase came on the back of rising global crude oil costs on petrol and diesel.
This increased the price of petrol by Tsh 183 a litre to Tsh 2,642 from Tsh 2,459 last month while diesel jumped from Tsh 144 to Tsh 2,644 a litre from Tsh 2,500 in March.
The price of Kerosene, mostly used in low-income households, increased to Tsh 2,173 from Tsh 1,811 per litre.
ZURA Communication Officer, Mbaraka Hassan Haji, said the change resulted in increases in fuel price in the global market and surges in transportation costs.
However, economic analyst say fuel prices have hit a new record high at the pump in many countries, tightening the squeeze on consumers.
“The pump prices are driven largely by the wholesale price of energy, which has shot up amid fears of global economic shocks from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” Said Muhammed Aboubakar, an economic analyst.
He said oil prices soured after Russia invaded Ukraine, with the price of Brent crude oil-the global benchmark for prices-hitting a near 14-year high of $139 per barrel at one point.
However, he warned that the price of the commodity could double soon if the sanctions imposed by the west against Russia were not relaxed and the war ended.
The costs of energy have a significant weighting in the basket of goods and services that is used to measure inflation in Zanzibar.
Public transportation providers and food importers are also expected to be affected in the higher cost of petroleum.
Masoud Muhammed said, there is still no sign that fuel prices will come down anytime soon.
He said that much as the issues of the Ukraine-Russia conflict have been addressed, the initial projection for prices to go down is not working out because of the global trends.
Bodaboda transport costs have already begun to raise in various areas of Zanzibar to cover the sharp increase in fuel prices.
Zanzibar imports 18 million liters of fuel a month stored in its oil reserves in Tanga port.
