Motorists Call For Mandatory Dual Fuel Pricing
Motorists have called on the government to come up with legislation that compels fuel service stations to sell fuel in both foreign and local currency in line with the prevailing exchange rate.
This comes as service stations selling fuel in only foreign currency are always fully stocked while those that sell the product in Zimbabwe dollars go for weeks without fuel.
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOIC) chairperson, Daniel Mackenzie Ncube, said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) should intervene and announce or give a directive on the issue of dual pricing. He said:
We must see a pricing policy, which enables motorists to buy using swipe or any other form of payment using local currency at the prevailing interbank exchange rate.
We are not saying service stations should run at a loss, no! We want dual pricing because we all don’t have access to foreign currency.
There should be a legal instrument to compel the service stations to implement dual pricing for the benefit of all people who need fuel.
Ncube also suggested that forex auctions should be conducted twice per week rather than once, as is the current practice.
He said this will ensure that players in the fuel industry will always be aware of prevailing market rates and would not hoard the commodity.
