The Minister of Finance says the government is set to increase excise duty by 7 cents per litre on diesel and paraffin and 6.5 cents on petrol to reduce the arbitrage opportunities. Presenting the 2019 national budget in Parliament on Thursday, he said
… current market developments have also distorted the fuel market. The country’s fuel has become relatively cheaper compared to prices obtaining in the region, creating an arbitrage opportunity for local consumers and transiting vehicles. This arbitrage opportunity has partly contributed to the increase in consumption of fuel products, with volumes for the period January to October 2018, amounting to US$1.29 billion.
The increase in consumption is clearly unsustainable, considering that the available foreign currency reserves have to be shared among other critical priorities I, therefore, propose to increase excise duty by 7 cents per litre on diesel and paraffin and 6.5 cents on petrol to reduce the arbitrage opportunities. This measure takes effect from 1 December 2018.
Makes an intervention but piecemeal and very toxic…..before there is serious industrialization program grounded in well unified Zimbabwe [between and all parties and citizens ], all these measures remain quite toxic as they literally fuel cross sector prize hikes hammering mostly not on Zimbabwe military, state and party elites but on the unemployed and defenseless rural -urban majority