Government to deliberate on pump prices

Government, will in two weeks’ time meet with all stakeholders to decide on whether fuel pump prices would be reduced or remain stable on the local market. This was revealed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Antoine Ruvebana during an interview with The Business Times. Over the last two-weeks, oil prices have gone down trading below $74 (Rwf41,717) per barrel on the international market. According to Ruvebana, government is organizing a meeting with all the parties concerned to assess the impact and deliberate on whether to reduce pump prices. “We source our fuel from Kenya, so we have to look at prices in Kenya if they are going down according to the international trend or not then we decide according,” he explained. Since June, pump price have been trading at Rwf825 after an increase from Rwf756 per liter representing a 9.1 percent increase in just a period of only one month, on the local market. Ruvebana also explained that every month they look at monthly revenues and adjust accordingly. ”So we are meeting next week to access and discuss the issue whether we are going to reduce or the prices remain stable.” he added. In previous months, global oil prices continued to rally, rising above $67 (Rwf36,224) for the first time since November 2008 but the prices have started to drop since most countries have started to recover from the economic recession. Ends

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Government to deliberate on pump prices