The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) has raised the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas due to the depreciation of the Kwacha against the Rand.
The price of gas has been adjusted upwards to K2065.00 from K1952.00 per KG.
The authority said in a statement yesterday that since the previous price revision in March 2021, the Malawi Kwacha has depreciated against the South African Rand by 8.53% trading at K57.10/ZAR from K52.61/ZAR. The adjustment has also been attributed to the rise in gas prices on the international market.
MERA Consumer Affairs and Public Relations Manager, Fitina Khonje, defended the decision to raise the price of gas claiming the adjustment will enable the availability of the product in the country
She was speaking at a briefing the media on the results of the monthly review of electricity and energy prices in the country for the month of April.
Khonje said in this month’s review it has been established that prices of petrol and gas has been adjusted on the international and the that the two qualified for adjustment however only gas price has gone up with a 5.79 percent.
The regulatory body has, however, maintained the pump prices of Petrol which qualified for an upward adjustment in the month of April.
She said the decision to have petrol price maintained despite qualifying for adjustment, arrived at on grounds that the authority has in the previous month collected enough money through the price stabilisation fund which she said will be used to cushion the increase.
“Exchange rate and Free On Board prices are the factors which affect prices of petroleum products in the country. On average, Petrol FOB and exchange rate resulted in 10 percent increase in the month of March, beyond the 5 percent bar in the month of March.
“Within the month, both diesel and paraffin experienced an increase of 2 percent, and this has prompted MERA to maintain the prices and petrol price too has been maintained despite qualifying. This means that only gas price has been adjusted upwards,” said Khonje.
According to Khonje, as it stands petrol is still selling at K899, Diesel is selling at K898, Paraffin is still selling at K719.
