Petrol now under P6 a litre

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Thursday November 20, 2008 00:00

 

The Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources yesterday announced the pump price reductions that took effect from 1 a.m. this morning.

The price reductions for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin are in tandem with oil price reductions on international markets.

'Both unleaded and leaded replacement petrol will decrease by 100thebe per litre while diesel will decrease by 120thebe per litre,' says the statement making the announcement.

'Illuminating paraffin will decrease by 50thebe per litre.'

The latest fuel price reduction should bring petrol in Gaborone and surrounding areas down to about 5.94 per litre and diesel to P6.82.

The pump price decrease is due to the decrease in crude oil prices between September and October. International crude oil prices averaged US$71.58 in October from an average of $97.23 in September.

Crude prices decreased by an average of 26 percent between September and October.

'The Government will continue to monitor the price of petroleum products in both regional and international markets and make reviews and adjustments on a monthly basis,' said the statement.

Although motorists will welcome the latest development, commuters will feel hard done by as taxi fares have not gone down accordingly.

After pressure from the taxi operators, Government earlier this year increased fares when fuel pump prices went up on an unprecedented upsurge, almost reaching almost P9 per litre at one point.

On the back of decreases in fuel prices, the Central Statistics Office announced this week that the October inflation rate had eased by 0.9 of a percentage point.

The index of Operation of Personal Transport went down by 9.0 percent from 140.9 in September to 128.2 in October due to a reduction in retail pump prices for both diesel and petrol each by P0.50 per litre effected on October 19, 2008.