Commodities

Fuel prices up on high import bill

Kenyans will pay more for fuel from Wednesday after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Tuesday announced higher prices.

The price of a litre of super petrol and diesel rose by Sh0.70 and Sh0.54 respectively.

Meanwhile, the price of kerosene rose by Sh1.64, which was the highest.

The new prices took effect from midnight and will remain in force until February 14.

In Nairobi, motorists will pay Sh110.20 and Sh102.32 for a litre of Super petrol and diesel respectively, and Sh103.95 for kerosene.

Those in Mombasa will pay the least for fuel in the country, with a litre of petrol retailing at Sh108.15, diesel at Sh100.27 and kerosene at Sh101.91.

Moyale residents will pay the highest prices, with a litre of petrol going for Sh123.06, diesel for Sh115.17 and kerosene for Sh116.82.

The prices are inclusive of value added tax (VAT), in line with provisions of the Finance Act of 2018, with the revised rates for Excise Duty adjusted for inflation, the Railway Development Levy, and the import Declaration fee in line with Finance Act of 2019.

“The changes in this month’s prices are a consequence of the average landed cost of imported Super petrol increasing by 2.21 per cent from $460. 83 per cubic metre in November to 471. 01 per cubic metre in December 2019,” EPRA said in a press statement.

The authority said the price of diesel increased by 1.73 per cent from $485.29 to $493.68 per cubic metre, and that of kerosene by 5.75 per cent from $481.11 to $508.77 per cubic metre.

The increases come despite the shilling strengthening against the dollar over the same period, appreciating by 0.86 per cent from Sh102.20 in November, 2019, to Sh101.32 per cent in December.

Fuel prices are expected to rise even higher as the effects of US-Iran conflict come into play.

In its previous adjustment, EPRA reduced the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Sh1.09, Sh2.83 and Sh1.75 per litre respectively.