Own Correspondent|Government claims that it reduced duty on diesel and petrol timely to cushion consumers from the effects of the latest round of fuel price increases, an official in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has said.

The decision to reduce by half, the duty on fuel, comes in the wake of fuel price increases announced by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) yesterday.

According to ZERA’s reviewed prices, the maximum pump price for petrol is now RTGS$4,97 per litre, up from $3,36 per litre while that of diesel is now $4,89, up from $3,22 per litre.

ZERA hiked fuel prices following the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ)’s decision to stop providing Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) with foreign currency at a 1:1 exchange rate.

The decision was also undertaken “to promote the efficient use of foreign exchange and to minimise and guard against incidences of arbitrage within the economy.”

On average, prices yesterday went up by 51,86 percent for diesel and 47,9 percent for petrol.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance George Guvamatanga said the increase could have been much more had Government not intervened through a 50 percent reduction in duty on fuel. Without the reduction, diesel’s price would have increased to $5,79 per litre while that of petrol would have increased to $6,12 per litre.

“The Government has reduced the duty on petrol and diesel. As you might be aware, the duties were $2,30 for petrol and $2,05 for diesel. The duty is now reduced to 90 cents for diesel and $1,15 for petrol,” Guvamatanga said in a video released on social media by the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.

“This has been done in order to make sure that we cushion the public from increases in the price of fuel,” he said.