Tanzania cuts fuel prices after import costs fall

Tanzania’s energy regulator cut fuel prices on Wednesday after prices on the international market fell and the move is likely to further ease inflation in east Africa’s second-biggest economy. Inflation in Tanzania dipped to 6.6 percent in the year to September from 6.7 percent in August. The state-run Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) cut the petrol price in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam by 0.66 percent to 2,178 shillings per litre, and diesel by 1.81 percent to 2,027 shillings. The price of kerosene in the commercial capital was lowered by 1.1 percent to 1,993 shillings per litre. EWURA said it had also lowered wholesale prices for petrol by 0.69 percent, diesel by 1.9 percent and kerosene by 1.16 percent. “The drop in retail and wholesale local prices would have been more, following the bullish trend of the world market prices, had it not been because of the depreciation of the Tanzanian shilling against the U.S. dollar,” EWURA said in a statement. Brent crude has dropped more than a quarter from above $115 per barrel in June as abundant supplies of high-quality oil such as U.S. shale have overwhelmed demand in many markets, filling stocks worldwide. Offsetting that, the Tanzanian shilling, under pressure from rising demand for dollars from importers, has been undermined by a slowdown in inflows from tourism and agriculture sectors, traders said. The new fuel prices will take immediate effect and will stay in place for one month, the energy watchdog said. *Source theafricareport]]>