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Govt attempts to match fuel prices with SA |
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Written by Staff Reporters
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Recent announcements by the Ministry of Mines and Energy
indicate that the government wants to match local fuel prices with those of
neighbouring countries. The ministry has continued to justify fuel price increases
in the past few months arguing that fuel prices in Namibia are lower than those
in neighbouring countries.
Last month, the ministry said, as Namibia imports most of
her fuel requirements from South Africa, it is deemed to be a good practice to
compare fuel prices between the two countries. The ministry said it is evident
that for the month of June, unleaded and lead replacement petrol was 5.8% and
2.4 % higher in South Africa than in Namibia, while diesel was 5.1% higher in
Namibia than in South Africa though it is cheaper in Namibia compared to
petrol.“It should be highly emphasized that although the ministry
endeavours to keep fuel prices to the bare minimum as it has such a huge impact
on the economy of the country it will harmonize fuel prices with neighbouring
states to be fair in respect of pricing mechanisms used.In a politically volatile world, Namibian consumers are
forewarned that they will have to prepare for the unanticipated changes due to
volatility in oil prices in the global market,” the ministry said.
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