Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has denied reports that recent sharp increase in fuel prices has been triggered by the securitization of the Roads Maintenance Levy (RML).
According to Wandayi, the increase in the latest monthly fuel review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) the increase was driven by the increase in the landed cost charge of super petrol, diesel and kerosene between the month on May and June.
During the period, the price of super petrol went up by $45.15 to $716.94 per metric tonne while that of diesel and kerosene went up by $52.63 and $48.77 to $616.47 and $48.77 per metric tonne.
“The prices of refined products in the markets increased by 6.72pc, 9.33pc and 8.15pc for super petrol, diesel and kerosene respectively,” said Wandayi.
On Monday, EPRA announced a sharp increase in fuel prices where super petrol went up by Ksh 8.99, diesel by Ksh .8.67 and kerosene by Ksh 9.65 per litre.
According to Wandayi, the government has not introduced new taxes on fuel imported into the country, since the last review of the Roads Maintenance Levy in July last year. The levy was increased from Ksh 18 per litre to Ksh 25 per litre.
“Since then there has been no revision of taxes as alluded to in the press statements. The only changes is due to the changes in ad valorem taxes Railway Development Levy (RDL) and Import Declaration Fee (IDF) which depend on the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) of the product,” he added.
This is the second consecutive cycle where EPRA failed to tap into the fuel stabilization fund to keep fuel prices low. Wandayi has further discredited the reports that suggest the pump price increases were due to the government using the RML as a security to access funds to pay pending bills which has caused road project delays.
“It also suffices to note that the government has in the previous pricing cycles intervened in the market and applied stabilization to cushion consumers by keeping pump prices lower than the actual prices in times where the published prices would otherwise have been higher. It is therefore mischievous and factually incorrect to link the recent increase in pump prices with the securitization of the road maintenance levy,” he stated.
