The Mozambican Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy announced on Thursday a rise in the prices of most liquid fuels, of between two and 6.5 per cent, taking effect immediately.
The sharpest price increase is for kerosene which rises from 9.390 to 10,000 meticais a litre, an increase of 6.5 per cent (at current exchange rates there are about 24,000 meticais to the US dollar).
Jet fuel goes up by 6.1 per cent, from 10,126.1 to 10,740.9 meticais a litre.
Motorists face a 2.9 per cent increase in petrol: a litre now costs 17,720 rather than 17,220 meticais. Unleaded petrol remains cheaper: it goes up by 2.2 per cent, from 16,670 to 17,040 meticais a litre. (But unleaded petrol is only available in Maputo.) The price rise for diesel was held to just two per cent: it goes up from 13,870 to 14.150 meticais a litre.
There was no increase in the price of LPG cooking gas, which still costs 15,399.5 meticiais per kilo Fuel prices are reviewed every month, and are altered if the cost of importing fuel, when expressed in meticais, rises or falls by more than three percent, or if there is any change in fuel tax.
Thursday's increases result from the recent steady rise in the world market price of oil. Asked about this earlier in the week, Prime Minister Luisa Diogo admitted that oil prices had become a major headache.
She said that if the oil price continued to rise, the government would have to take measures to protect Mozambican consumers.
Fonte: AIM
