Government will not intervene to stem the ongoing fuel crisis in the country, according to cabinet ministers.The crisis has led to increase of fuel prices at all petrol stations surveyed in the City of Kigali. Kerosene used by most Rwandans for lighting has hit an all time high of Frw570 from the previous Frw480. “There should not be cause for alarm….Government has done its best to keep the prices where they currently are compared to what the international market forces are dictating,” The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Protais Mitali, said yesterday.He said that the prices have since June this year been increasing by 38 percent, adding that it is only gas oil that has not got any bigger increment since it’s highly used in the transport industry. Fuel prices have since last week increased by an average of Frw30 per litre sending fears among Rwandans that the increase may trigger prices of other goods and services to increase.Asked on whether the country has enough fuel stocks currently, Mitali said: “That has already been planned for. We effected that increment in order to protect the reserves. Actually Rwanda has the best prices in the region currently.” The State Minister for Energy and Communication, Eng. Albert Butare, said that shortage is a worldwide crisis. “We (government) cannot do any thing on the prices”. “We are only sourcing for alternatives since Rwanda heavily depends on fuel for lighting and running industries. We are currently building a fuel plant, and encouraging bio-gas developments to substitute Kerosene,” he said yesterday.A mini-survey carried out yesterday indicates that most petrol stations had the same prices and business was going on as usual. Some of the pumps visited include Total, KLSS, Source Oil and Kobil. At all the stations, petrol prices had increased to Frw637 per litre from the previous Frw617, diesel had shot up from Frw605 to Frw620 while kerosene that used to be at Frw480 was at Frw530. Despite the government’s subsidization on fuel, the prices are still shooting high and marking a record on the world market, a fact that has been attributed to a number of issues by economists, among them the declining rate of the US dollar. Ends
