Harare - Zimbabwe has raised the price of
petrol and diesel by 12%, the second increase this month, the
energy regulator said on Tuesday, piling more pressure onto
consumers hit by soaring inflation.
The last round of fuel price hikes on Oct. 5. saw prices
rise 27% and was followed by a 320% increase in the cost of
electricity, triggering a spike in the cost of basic goods such
as sugar, maize meal and milk.
Petrol will now cost 16.67 Zimbabwe dollars ($1.07) a litre
while diesel will cost 17.47 Zimbabwe dollars, the Zimbabwe
Energy Regulatory Agency said.
The latest hike has failed to ease nationwide shortages,
with most of the fuel pumps in the capital still dry.
With prices surging, economists examining the official
monthly data put inflation in September at 380%.
Hopes that the economy would quickly rebound under President
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over after the late Robert Mugabe
was deposed in a coup in 2017, have dimmed fast as ordinary
people grapple with economic hardships.
The southern African nation is experiencing its worst
economic crisis in a decade, seen in the triple-digit inflation,
18-hour power cuts and shortages of U.S. dollars, medicine and
fuel that have evoked the dark days of the 2008 hyperinflation
under Mugabe.
Mnangagwa, who critics accuse of lacking commitment to
political reforms and using his predecessor's heavy-handed
tactics to stifle dissent, has pleaded for time and patience to
bring the economy back from the "dead".