A Liter Of Petrol At Ksh 78, The Lowest In 13 Years

Motorists in Kenya are set to smile as they head to the pump after the prices of fuel including Diesel and Petrol fell deepest for the first time in 13 years.

The prices of Diesel are from Thursday, May 14, 2020, expected to fall by close to 20 shillings a liter from 97.56 shillings per liter to 78.07 shillings in Nairobi representing a 19.9 percent drop.

For petrol, Nairobi motorists will pay 82.28 shillings for a liter of super petrol from 92.87 shillings which represents a 10.59 shillings drop.

Kerosene users will, however, have to dig deeper into their pockets as the prices increased by 3.19 percent to 79.79 shillings following a delay in the imports.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) told the Petroleum Ministry that the prices are expected to fall deeper following the lower global crude prices.

A new tax law which was passed last month, however, prevented the prices at the pump from falling even deeper as it introduced levies on the fuel to boost the Government’s revenue as it battles Covid-19.

“These are the changes to the fuel prices that Kenyans should expect to pay from Thursday midnight. There was no import for kerosene and new VAT rules have been applied in the review,” said the energy regulator during the brief.

The fall in fuel prices has been attributed to the fallout between Saudi Arabia and Russia who are the largest fuel producers in the world.

The supremacy battle between the largest fuel producers led to a plunge in the petrol prices globally as they disagreed over production cut in the wake of Covid-19. The Covid-19 crisis also led to reduced demand for energy leading to low prices.

Kenya’s EPRA said it used the fall in global crude oil prices in determining the fuel prices in the Months of April and May.