Govt In Disarray Over The Pricing Of Fuel - Commentator
The government has been castigated for its latest inconsistent measures regarding the pricing fuel.
On Monday, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced that fuel dealers now have to access foreign currency at the prevailing exchange rate at the interbank market, a departure from the fixed 1:1 rate.
However, the government has quickly moved to stop dealers from adjusting fuel prices to reflect the new changes.
Fuel dealers have already come up with new fuel prices, but the move has been shot down by the government.
In his comments over these recent developments, award-winning journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono said:
This is the disorder in government that I always talk about. You tell fuel dealers that they now access foreign exchange at a higher premium yet you insist that they sell at old prices?
How do you expect them to replace the fuel that they would have sold at the old price?
Meanwhile, the government, through the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has warned fuel dealers against increasing fuel prices or hoarding. Below is the full statement by ZERA:
NOTICE TO FUEL OPERATORS
The Petroleum Industry is advised that the prices of fuel have NOT changed and operators are expected to continue selling fuel into the market as is expected of them.
Any operator found hoarding fuel will face the full wrath of the law. The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Officers have been deployed in all the towns and cities to ensure compliance.E. T. Mazambani ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ZIMBABWE ENERGY REGULATORY AUTHORITY
ZIMBABWE ENERGY REGULATORY AUTHORITY
2 1 MAY 2019
P. 0. BOX CY 308, CAUSEWAY HARARE, ZIMBABWE
