Prices –Government of Kenya has announced a further increase in fuel prices in the country to sh 300 per litre.
Appearing before the National Dialogue Committee NDC at the Bomas of Kenya today Monday November 6 morning, Energy Cabinet Secretary CS Davies Chirchir said, from his global fuel price productions, prices could soon move up to sh 300 per liter.
He attributed this to the ongoing instability in the oil producing nations among them Israel and Palestine.
He said the conflict was not only hitting the two nations involved but it had escalated economic ripples across the globe.
“I read an article in the Financial Times the other day that because of the Hamas and Israeli War, the international prices could go up to USD150 and that would literally mean our products going to a high of sh 300 at the pump,” Chirchir told NDC.
Mr. Chirchir who was fielding questions from the Dialogue Committee members said, his ministry can do nothing to push down the prices as of now.
Asked on what he thinks about the current sh 217 and whether the government was working on modalities to lower the cost, the Energy CS argued that it was not yet possible.
Currently, a litre of petrol is retailing at sh 217 per litre, the highest in history. Kenyans started the year with petrol at sh 177 per litre.
When the new administration – Kenya Kwanza – came into power, it decided to do away with the subsidy which had been there for a long time and, instead, replaced it with Fuel Stabilization Fund.
Moreover, the VAT was immediately doubled from the normal eight percent to sixteen percent on oil in the country.
