NAMIBIANS will get their second fuel price breather for the year when the petrol and diesel prices drop by ten cents a litre on Wednesday.

Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali on Friday confirmed that the price of 95 octane unleaded petrol (ULP), 93 octane lead replacement petrol (LRP) and diesel all would decrease by ten cents per litre at 00:01 on August 18.

The new pump price at Walvis Bay will then be N$7,18 per litre for ULP, N$,711 per litre for LRP and N$7,35 per litre for diesel.

Announcing the adjustment, Katali said that the exchange rate between the Namibian and US currency strengthened slightly during July.

He said crude oil demand was expected to grow over the coming months as the economy recovered, with "healthy growth that is expected in demand for transportation fuels".

Katali said road user charges had been increased by five cents per litre from 94 cents per litre to 99 cents per litre.

He said the Ministry had received requests for levy increases such as the one for the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF).

"There are also other possible adjustments in future such as margins for industry players, all of which cannot be implemented at once. These will be implemented in a phased approach for the benefit of the consumer and the economy in general," Katali said.

The fuel price breather comes when consumers are bracing themselves for next month's increase of about ten per cent in the price of wheat flour. This will result in the first bread price increase in two years.

The latest price increase is largely due to Russia's suspension of wheat exports after a severe drought destroyed a fifth of the crops of the world's third biggest exporter of wheat. Since then, wheat prices worldwide have shot up by roughly 26 per cent.

Namibia imports 85 per cent of its wheat.