Tonderai Katswara
12 February 2008
Windhoek — FUEL prices will on Friday go up for the first time this year, with diesel increasing by a whopping 32 cents while petrol goes up by 22 cents a litre.
An informed source in the local oil industry yesterday disclosed to The Namibian that due to a large under-recovery of diesel, the Government had realised that it had to raise the diesel price, and maybe end up with a slight over-recovery.
The new Walvis Bay pump prices will be N$7,54 for a litre of diesel, N$7,25 for unleaded petrol while a litre of lead-replacement petrol (LRP) will cost N$7,23. Inland motorists will be forced to fork out more.
In Windhoek, a litre of diesel will now cost N$7,73 while unleaded petrol will go for N$7,43 per litre and a litre of LRP will cost N$7,41.
"These are the new pump prices and they come into effect at one past midnight on Friday 15 February," revealed the source.
The hefty hikes will likely lead to a ripple of increases in basic commodities and transport fares.
South Africa - where Namibia imports it fuel from - also hiked its prices last week.
Rising international crude oil prices have also been the driver of petrol price hikes.
The last petrol price increases were announced by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in mid-December.
In its monetary policy statement last month, the Bank of Namibia warned of rising petrol prices due to the current economic conditions - both domestically and internationally.
International crude oil prices remain high with a barrel going for U.S.$92 (around N$717,60) yesterday, but the BoN sees a change of trend during the year.
"It is expected that crude oil prices will subside, amid fears that the U.S. economy is heading for a recession," it said.
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