Persistent shortage of petrol in Zambia has taken a political twist with opposition political leaders heaping the blame on the government and President Rupiah Banda.

Main opposition leaders Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) have accused President Banda of not being proactive to have predicted the fuel shortage ahead of the scheduled shutdown of Indeni Oil Refinery - Zambia's sole oil refinery.

Indeni Oil Refinery shut down for routine maintenance exercise and is expected to resume operations next week compounding the situation.

"Fuel has a multiplier effect. People are going late for work or they are not working because they are queuing up for fuel every day," said Mr Sata in the wake of fuel shortage that started about two weeks ago in almost all parts of Zambia.

Bank of Zambia (BoZ) governor Dr Caleb Fundanga said failure to quickly address the fuel shortage will have devastating impact on the country's economy.

The central bank chief warned that fuel shortage will increase the cost of production and might overturn the economic targets set for this year.

"Authorities should actualise the measures taken so that the situation is normalised otherwise this will have a devastating impact on the economy," Dr Fundanga said.

However, Energy Minister Kenneth Konga and his permanent secretary Peter Mumba have assured the nation that the government had ordered new stocks of fuel and the problem will soon be over. Despite those assurances, most service stations have no fuel particularly petrol hence motorists spend hours while others days at filling stations hoping to refuel their vehicles.

Some motorists fought at a Lusaka filling station as they were stampeding to access the commodity. Wherever there is petrol, some unscrupulous people have been buying it in bulk and reselling at the black market - at about US $ 11 per five litre container - which is double the normal price on the market.