Hard Times Ahead As Fuel Prices Soar In April Review

Kenyans will have to dig deeper into their pockets even as fuel prices soars in the April 2019 Review.

In a statement, the Energy Regulatory commission (ERC) announced that the price for Super Petrol will go up by Ksh5.25 while that of diesel goes up by Ksh5.52. Kerosene’s price will go up by Ksh2.76.

ERC attributed the rise to the increase in the average landed cost of imported fuel. The landes cost for Super Petrol increased by 9.14 percent from USD 568.55 per ton in February 2019 to USS 62054 per ton in March 2019; Diesel increasing by 11.19 percent from USD 561.64 per ton to USD 624.51 per ton and Kerosene increasing by 1.88 percent from USS 650.29 per ton to USD 662.55 per ton.

Read: Inflation Rate At All-Time High Of 5.7 Per Cent, In A Month

The Free On board (FOB) price of Murban crude oil lifted in March 2019 was posted at USD 60.60 per barrel, an increase of 3.39 percent from USS 66.35 per barrel in February 2019.

Over the same period, the mean monthly us Dollar to Kenya Shilling exchange rate depreciated by 0.30% from KSh100.17 per USD in February 2019 to KSh100.47 per USD in March 2019.

This means super petrol, diesel and kerosene will retail at Sh106.6, Sh102.13 and Sh102.22 respectively in Nairobi from Sunday midnight.

Here’s the price list for other towns:-

In March, ERC announced increase of fuel prices for Super Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene by Ksh1.26, Ksh0.65 and Ksh2.96 per litre respectively, bringing to an end a three-month decrease in fuel prices.

This may affect basic commodity prices such as food, which have already been affected upwardly by drought.