What was supposed to be a routine of purchasing groceries for her family of three turned into a depressing Thursday for Towera Banda.
The Ndirande-based single mother of two in Blantyre, went to a shop to buy basic foodstuffs, anticipating that she had enough money for the items.
But she had a rude awakening when she found that prices had been adjusted upwards, with traders attributing this to the ongoing fuel scarcity.
Visibly appalled, she lamented: “Every time there is fuel scarcity, we always buy things at higher prices. This is so unfair”.
On the day, Banda budgeted to buy a packet of sugar, bathing and laundry soap, toothpaste, salt, and toilet paper. But based on the hiked prices, she could not afford what she wanted.
She found sugar selling at K4 000, a bar of soap at K2 900, medium toothpaste at K2 500, a medium pack of salt at K2 000, a one kilogramme (kg) powdered washing soap at K10 000 and one roll of toilet paper at K1 000.
Ordinarily, white sugar sells at K2 950 per kg while brown sugar is at K2 600. On the other hand, a price of a bar of soap sells between K1 700 and K2 000, a medium packet of salt sells at between K800 and K1 000, a one kg pack of powdered laundry soap between K6 000 and K8 000 and a roll of ordinary toilet paper K800.
Apart from these items, some that are also hiked during intermittent fuel scarcities include bread, other confectioneries, processed foods, green vegetables, tomatoes and flour.
But while Banda went ahead to buy the items, she had no kind words.
“This situation needs to be addressed because we don’t know how long the fuel scarcities will last,” she said.
Banda described the abrupt commodity price increase as disheartening considering how Malawians’ income continues shrinking amid a deteriorating socio-economy due to a number of factors.
Zomba-based Mark Kaliati expressed similar fears, saying consumers need to be protected in such scenarios.
“Does it mean that every time there is fuel scarcity, we will be buying groceries at exorbitant prices?” he lamented.
Apart from prices of basic goods being adjusted, public transport operators have also been adjusting upwards their fares every time there is intermittent fuel supply. The situation leaves commuters with no option but to pay through the nose.
Lilongwe-based James Mwenegamba in a separate interview last week said he missed an appointment because he couldn’t afford the fare he was told to pay.
He said: “Instead of paying K1 000, I was told to pay K2 000 for a one-way trip. I postponed my appointment. Luckily, the other person I was to meet understood despite that our meeting was work related”.
The ripple effects of fuel scarcity are hitting hard ordinary consumers, most of whom do not possess vehicles.
But in a written response last week, Competitions and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) spokesperson Innocent Helema said excessive pricing, as in the current situation, flouts the CFTC Act.
He said CFTC will probe the situation and hold accountable traders exploiting consumers.
Said Helema: “It is a violation of the Competition and Fair Trading Act to take advantage of consumers and engage in excessive pricing. We will follow this up to establish merit and take anyone responsible to task”.
Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesperson Patrick Botha on Friday referred the matter back to CFTC.
In recent months, pressure has been mounting on authorities to raise fuel prices to avert looming fuel stockouts as well as to reflect the realities of landed costs and global fuel prices, and taking into consideration the local currency’s weakness.
Legislators on the government side, the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change and Consumers Association of Malawi have been making such recommendations.
But appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises on Thursday in Lilongwe, Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) director of finance Zacharia Ng’oma said their board has started reviewing fuel prices.
He said: “A decision was made to start with two products that were adjusted early this week [last week]. We just hope that we are going to address this challenge that the country is currently facing”.
Ng’oma was referring to a 15.25 percent increase for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), from K3 245 to K3 740 per kilogramme which Mera announced on Monday.
In an interview last week, Cama executive director John Kapito said intermittent fuel supply is not good to the economy.
Kapito, a consumer rights activist, said intermittent fuel supply often triggers higher prices in an economy resulting in businesses closing as well as loss of jobs.
He said it is disheartening that when Cama raised the issue pertaining to fuel pump price adjustments in August 2024; its recommendations were met with unfair criticism.
Said Kapito: “Unfortunately, this was met with unfair criticism without any element of economic analysis on the impacts”.
He said delayed fuel price adjustments will have a long-term impact on consumers who will have to shoulder the burden of losses which are currently accumulating in billions.
Government’s indecisiveness on adjusting fuel prices has resulted in K785 billion losses which Mera must pay petroleum importers in compensation.
Mera’s failure to reimburse the under-recoveries has now forced fuel importers, desperate to shore up their working capital and keep trading, to withhold K330 billion in levies which are supposed to be remitted to beneficiary institutions.
The price stabilisation levy which Mera uses to cushion price increases is said to have been depleted because of the import losses leading to negligible payments from the fund; hence, crippling its ability to cushion consumers from price movements.
Currently, the pump price for petrol is K2 530 per litre while diesel is at K2 734 per litre.
