Nairobi — Kenya received its first consignment of fuel consisting of petrol, diesel, and jet A-1 fuel used in the aviation industry from the Middle East on Thursday.
Two ships ferrying over 160, 000 metric tonnes of fuel which docked at the Kipevu oil Terminal Mombasa were received by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua along with other government officials.
The consignment contained 80,000 metric tonnes of Jet A-1 fuel and over 80,000 metric tonnes of petrol.
The consignment is being received from United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the Kenyan government signed a government-to-Government (G2G) deal with UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation (ADNOC) Global Trading for the supply of automotive gas oil and Jet A-1 for nine months.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua stated that the arrival of the crude oil tankers gives hope that the economy of the country is headed in the right direction.
"Today we receive our maiden petroleum import under a government-to-Government arrangement. It is an important milestone for our Country," he said.
"This is the beginning of restoring our economy and it is an indication that there are men and women who are not sleeping trying to restore the economy."
The Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir added that the initiative will help in stabilizing the shilling in the country.
"We hope this will stabilize the shilling. The pressure is already being eased and we hope the dollars will be performing to other sectors of the economy," he said.
The government recently signed a deal that will see the importation of diesel, super petrol, and jet fuel on credit in a deal that is meant to ease demand for the dollar and prop up the battered shilling.
With the arrangement, the Country is set to realize greater macroeconomic benefits.
One of the benefits is the accumulation of additional foreign reserves of approximately USD 3 billion in the next six months as demand for foreign exchange eases from the oil sector.
It will also help in sustaining the build-up of foreign exchange reserves arising from the deferred payments for fuel imports for six months which will significantly improve the country's foreign reserve levels.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also asked Kenyans hoarding dollars to release them as they may suffer losses.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Gachagua warned that the dollar may not be marketable in the near future as the government has devised way to reduce its demand.
"We ask all those Kenyans, business people, and investors, who have been hoarding US dollars for the purpose of speculation, please offload those dollars to the market today and tomorrow. It is very honest advice from a truthful man," he said.
"With what has happened freeing USD500 million to purchase fuel every month, the demand for the dollar will come down and shilling will gain and we do not want Kenyans to lose their money so those who have been hoarding dollars everywhere hoping that it will go up, it will go down."
Dollar shortage has continued to hit local commercial transactions adversely with commercial banks raising their rate to as high as Sh145.5 per unit as of last evening, in a move that has led to the proliferation of more black-market deals.
