Fuel crisis looming as major dealers say they are struggling to stock up
A fuel crisis is looming as major dealers say they are struggling to stock up because of foreign currency shortages, which they say are threatening their viability.
Browsing tag
A fuel crisis is looming as major dealers say they are struggling to stock up because of foreign currency shortages, which they say are threatening their viability.
Scores of commuters in Bulawayo were yesterday stranded after commuter omnibus operators hiked fares, some doubling them during peak hours, citing fuel shortages that have forced them to source the commodity from the black market.
Zimbabwe plans to cut value added tax (VAT) from January to stimulate consumer demand in an economy set to a contract this year after a drought and power shortages, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday.
Fuel shortages in Harare this week triggered a wave of fare hikes by the fewer kombis on the roads.
Motorists here have for the past week endured stock outs of fuel supplies, indicating a worsening fuel situation in the petroleum industry.
Long fuel queues were once among the most common sights on Zimbabwe’s busy streets, but the snaking lines of cars waiting to refuel have disappeared in the past week following a 150 percent price hike.
There is no immediate relief for motorists and transport operators despite government’s shocking fuel hikes as long and winding queues continue to stalk several garages which are struggling to stock the much-sought products.
Fuel shortages that have dogged the economy since last year, are now posing a threat to the mining sector and small-scale miners have called on the Government to act decisively to avert the negative effects. The mining sector is Zimbabwe’s largest foreign currency earner led by gold exports.
Zimbabwe consumed almost 480 million more litres of petrol and diesel in six months between June and November last year than in the same period in 2017, a gargantuan 77 percent extra, at an additional foreign currency cost of more than US$200 million.
Fuel prices have slightly gone down despite persistent shortages being experienced throughout the country.