By Spy Uganda Correspondent
The cost of fuel in Kenya has risen to a new record high after the government partially removed subsidies that cushioned consumers from the global hike in oil prices.
The energy regulators said on Wednesday night that they had removed the subsidy for super petrol while retaining a smaller subsidy for diesel and kerosene.
The new prices, super petrol mostly used by private motorists will now cost about 179 shillings ($1.5; £1.3) a litre, up from 160 shillings while diesel, which is used by transporters and industries will cost 165 shillings in the capital, Nairobi.
Kerosene, which is mainly used by low-income households for cooking and lighting, will cost about 148 shillings.
Kenyan President William Ruto followed up on a pledge to remove a fuel subsidy that has further depleted the state’s already strained coffers, a move that’s likely to be unpopular with some motorists in the East African nation.
Just a day after Ruto’s Sept. 13 swearing-in, Kenya’s Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Authority scrapped a subsidy on gasoline, raising the price by 13%.
Critics of the price-relief measure have said the buffer protects those who can afford private cars.
Kenyan fuel prices rise to record after being unchanged for three months
Ruto faces the dual tasks of stabilizing government finances and bringing surging living costs under control. Kenya’s public debt ballooned to 8.6 trillion shillings ($71 billion) in June, from 1.9 trillion shillings in 2013 when the previous administration came to office, and the International Monetary Fund classifies the country as being at high risk of debt distress.
Inflation may meanwhile be on track to hit double digits in the fourth quarter due to global price pressures, according to analysts including Razia Khan, Standard Chartered Bank’s London-based head of research for Africa and the Middle East.
The government had expected to spend 280 billion shillings on fuel subsidies through the end of the fiscal year in June, equivalent to what it budgeted for development, Ruto said in his inauguration speech.
“We expect the president to make a few unpopular policy decisions, as much as we also expect the opposite as he attempts to keep up the promise to reduce the cost of living,” said Renaldo D’Souza, head of research at Nairobi-based Sterling Capital Ltd. “It was clear from the onset that the fuel subsidy was unsustainable in the long run.”
A separate subsidy on corn used to make a staple known as ugali, cost as much as 7 billion shillings in just one month, according to Ruto. Rather than targeting assistance to consumers, the new administration will seek to try and reduce food production costs and increase output by subsidizing inputs such as fertilizer and quality seeds, he said.
As a first step, 1.4 million bags of fertilizer will be offered to farmers for 3,500 shillings each from next week, 3,000 shillings less than the current cost.
