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Kenya hikes retail prices for fuel

Xinhua, February 14, 2017 Adjust font size:

Kenya's energy industry regulator on Tuesday increased petroleum pump prices for diesel, super petrol and kerosene by different price margins in the latest review for Feb 15- March 14 due to global increase in crude oil prices.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said the review have been as a result of the average landed costs of imported super petrol increasing by 8.5 percent from 530.24 U.S. dollars per tonne in December 2016 to 575.06 dollars per tonne in January.

The regulator said the average landed cost of imported diesel increased by 12.07 percent from 446.84 dollars per tonne to 500.78 dollars per tonne and kerosene rose by 7.44 percent from 487.91 dollars per tonne to 524.20 dollars per tonne.

"Taking into account the weighed average cost of imported refine petroleum products, the changes in the maximum allowed petroleum pump prices in Nairobi to increase by 4.26 shillings in Nairobi while diesel and kerosene went up by 5.03 shillings and 3.75 shillings per litre respectively," ERC said in a statement.

The industry regulator said Free on Board (FOB) price of Murban crude oil lifted in January was posted at 55.35 dollars per barrel, an increase of 12.22 percent from 54.15 dollars per barrel in December 2016.

Market analysts say the new prices could see the cost of living generally go up given the heavy reliance on kerosene, diesel and super petrol for transport, energy generation and agriculture especially among the low income earners who use kerosene for cooking.

Fuel prices have a significant impact on inflation in an economy which depends heavily on diesel for transport, power generation and agriculture, while kerosene is used in many households for lighting and cooking. Endit