Zimbabwe fuel prices shoot up 150%

The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority on Wednesday increased the pump prices of fuel by about 150 per cent.

With effect from Wednesday, diesel will cost 62.77 Zimbabwe dollars (ZWL) and petrol 71.62 ZWL, up from the June 4 prices of 24.93 ZWL and 28.96 ZWL for diesel and petrol respectively.

Those buying in dollars will also pay slightly more, with diesel and petrol costing 1.09 dollars and 1.28 dollars respectively.

The increases came amid reports that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would remove subsidies on fuel.

Zimbabwe blends its petrol with ethanol as a foreign currency saving measure, although many motorists are worried that the high blending ration of 20 per cent blend will have long-term negative effects on their engines.

They also argued that the price of blend should be lower than in countries which do not blend their fuel.

The increases also came as the central bank abandoned the fixed foreign currency exchange rate of 1 dollar to 25 ZWL in favour of a foreign currency auction system which kicked off on Tuesday with the weighted average rate over doubling to 57.3582 ZWL to 1 dollar.