PETROL PRICES SLIGHTLY UP AS DIESEL, KEROSENE PRICES LOWERED

The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) has lowered cap prices for diesel and kerosene and slightly increased petrol prices for January in line with changes in prices of petroleum products in the world market.

The energy regulator announced on Wednesday that retail prices for diesel and kerosene have decreased by 66/- per litre or 3.68 per cent and 37/- per litre or 2.11 per cent respectively to provide huge relief to the transport industry and domestic users.

The price for petrol price has slightly increased by ten cents per litre or 0.01 per cent. Similarly compared to the last month publications, wholesale prices for diesel and kerosene have decreased by 66/- per litre or 3.91 per cent and 37/- per litre or 2.25 per cent respectively, while petrol price has increased by per cent per litre or 0.01 per cent, the authority said. Road transport is the most widely used form of transport in Tanzania, carrying over 90 per cent of the passengers and 75 per cent of the freight traffic in the country.

Huge percentage of the nation's freight is moved by machines — whether trucks, trains or ships — that rely on diesel. There will be no prices change for petroleum products in Tanga Region as there was no new consignment of petroleum products received in Tanga port last month. Hence Tanga prices for the month of January 2017 will remain the same as it was in December 2016, Ewura said.

Fuel dominate import bill in Tanzania and its prices have a big impact on the inflation rate, which rose to 4.8 per cent in November up from 4.5 per cent year-on-year in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Tanzania as a net importer of fuel has benefitted from a large fall in the global price of oil since mid-2014 as it led to reduced fuel pump prices which meant more disposable income for consumers and reduced costs for producers.

Fuel prices are set to rise after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)- a group of some of the biggest oil producers in the world - agreed a deal to cut production late last year. OPEC agreed to cut production by about 1.2 million barrels per day, or about 4.5 percent of current production, to 32.5 million barrels per day.

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