30 May 2016, Windhoek — Consumers who are already facing massive increases in food prices can brace for more shocks as a rise in fuel prices is sure to push up expenses even more.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy on Friday confirmed that as of Wednesday, June 01, petrol prices will increase by 60 cents a litre (c/l) while all grades of diesel will increase by 70 c/l. Once these increases filter down to transport and food prices consumers will have to fork out more to get to work and to put food on the table.
“For the first time this year, oil has broken the US$50 level and stayed a shade above the psychologically important threshold. Equally, refined petroleum products have stayed above US$54 per barrel throughout the whole month of May. This slight increase in both crude and refined oil prices was caused by a decrease of about 5 million barrels in the US oil reserves and the oil pipelines blockade in Nigeria as a result of terrorist attacks in that country,” Minister of Mines and Energy, Obeth Kandjoze, explained in a statement released Friday.
He added that oil prices are extremely responsive to any shortage of supply in the market or a slight increase in demand. “There is still an over-supply of oil in the global market, but relatively lower compared to the previous four months. This is so because some of the biggest oil suppliers are still reluctant to cut supply due to fear of losing market shares,” said Kandjoze.
- New Era