Maputo — As the international price of oil approaches 100 dollars a barrel, the Mozambican government has been obliged to increase the price of petrol by nine per cent.

A release from the Ministry of Energy states that, as from Thursday, the price of a litre of petrol rises from 30.14 to 32.84 meticais (at current exchange rates, there are 24.3 meticais to the US dollar).

Diesel rises in price from 29.46 to 31.02 meticais a litre, an increase of 5.3 per cent. For kerosene, often regarded as the fuel of the poor, the rise is just 2.6 per cent (from 23.53 to 24.14 meticais a litre).

LPG domestic gas becomes 5.7 per cent more expensive. A kilo now costs 44.05 rather than 41.66 meticais.

These prices are for sales to the public in the port cities of Maputo, Matola, Beira and Nacala, where the fuel is unloaded.

Elsewhere in the country, fuel distributors may add their transport costs when calculating the final price.

The government reviews fuel prices every month, and changes them whenever the cost of importing fuel, expressed in meticais, shifts in either direction by more than three per cent, and whenever there is a change in fuel tax.