Transport fares to remain unchanged despite fuel price cut

Despite a government decision to cut the fuel prices last week, ATRACO, a local transport association has said that it will not reduce transport charges across the country. ATRACO has welcomed the reduction in prices but maintains that it was too small a change to spur a decrease in transport tariffs. “We are still operating in losses even after this reduction in prices because fuel prices previously had been hiked too high thrice,” said Dodo Twahirwa the president of ATRACO. However, Twahirwa stressed that if the government reduced further the prices of fuel, they would also consider a reduction in transport charges. In the last two months, pump prices increased from Rwf918 to Rwf940 for both petrol and diesel per liter. The increase was attributed to the hike of a barrel of crude oil on the international market from $70 (Rwf40,880)to $89 (Rwf51,709). The government’s decision to reduce fuel prices has been induced by the global oil prices that have continued to fall in past few weeks on international market to below $76 (Rwf44, 156) a barrel from $86 (Rwf 51,709). Officials at the Ministry recently revealed that a policy is ready and being debated, so that local prices are protected in circumstances of hikes on the international and region market to protect. Government departments and fuel dealers have been engaged in ‘internal discussions’ aimed at regulating, or even abating, the spill-over effect of what is now a worrying global oil crisis. Ends

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Transport fares to remain unchanged despite fuel price cut