Kenya has raised retail fuel prices by as much as 24.2% as the Middle East conflict drives up crude costs and squeezes petroleum supplies, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) said late Tuesday.
In its monthly review, EPRA set the maximum price of a litre of petrol at 206.97 Kenyan shillings ($1.60), a 16.1% increase. Diesel jumped 24.2% to 206.84 shillings per litre, while kerosene was held steady at 152.78 shillings.
The regulator attributed the hike to a sharp rise in the landed cost of imported products, which it said had climbed by up to 68.7%.
In March, EPRA left prices unchanged, noting then that the impact of the war had not yet filtered into retail rates.
Kenya imports nearly all its fuel through government-to-government deals with Persian Gulf suppliers, including Saudi Aramco Trading Fujairah, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC Global Trading Ltd, and Emirates National Oil Company Singapore Ltd.
Hours before the new prices took effect, motorists queued at stations across Nairobi to fill up, leading to long lines at the pumps.
To ease the burden, EPRA said it reduced value-added tax on petrol, diesel, and kerosene from 16% to 13%.
The move aims to “cushion consumers from the high…cost of petroleum products as a result of the escalated prices in the international market,” the authority said.
