Mera assures of diesel normalcy
Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer Henry Kachaje says players in the fuel marketing business are making every effort to ensure normalised availability of diesel.
He said this in an interview in Blantyre yesterday on the sidelines of a media briefing the energy regulator organised to explain global trends in the energy sector following the downward adjustment of petrol by 10.28 percent to K1 746 per litre effected yesterday.
Kachaje said: “I would like to assure the nation and specifically the users of this particular product that all efforts are being taken to make sure that we get back to a situation where availability of these critical and essential products is restored to the original state.”
His assurance comes at a time Malawians are experiencing erratic supply of diesel which has forced motorists and other users to spend long hours on queues to refill, but in some cases going back home empty-handed.
But Kachaje yesterday said there is intensification on loadings of the commodity together with other petroleum products so that Malawi gets well restocked.
He said the stocks being loaded at the ports of Beira in Mozambique and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, give Mera confidence that the current supply of both diesel and other petroleum products is going to be addressed in the shortest period.
Kachaje, however, refused to disclose how much money will be needed to restore the situation as well as a projected time frame.
He said there is presently a growing demand of petroleum products with Malawians using on average 845 000 litres of petrol and 834 000 litres of diesel a day, adding that about $50 million a month is needed to buy the fuel.
Kachaje also justified that diesel and paraffin remained at K1 920 and K1 236 per litre respectively based on Mera’s analysis to global energy trends.
However, he said when compared to other countries like the United Kingdom, fuel prices in Malawi are on the lower side.
He said for countries such as Zambia and Mozambique, their prices remain low due to the difference in the price mechanism build-up systems and other factors.
In an interview with The Nation edition of yesterday, Catholic University of Malawi economics lecturer Hopkins Kawaye said although petrol reduction would ease the burden faced by consumers, it violates Meanwhile, the average petroleum spot prices per barrel are seen at $94.97, an increase from an average of $48.5 in 2021.
