More pain as fuel prices jump to record high after Epra review
People queue to buy fuel at a filling station.
Fuel prices have gone up in the monthly review by the Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority with the costs of petrol, diesel and kerosene increasing by Sh9.9.
In Nairobi, a litre of petrol will retail at Sh144.62 a litre up from Sh134.72, diesel at Sh125.5 up from Sh115.6 while kerosene has also shot up to Sh113.55 per litre.
The new prices, which take effect at midnight, come even as motorists struggle to find fuel due to a shortage that has lasted more than two weeks.
The government has termed the shortage as artificial and cited some oil marketers for giving priority to the export market as the local market suffers.
The stand off culminated in the deportation of Rubis CEO Jean Bergeron on Wednesday
Earlier, on Thursday, Energy and Petroleum CS Monica Juma warned oil firms against what she termed as economic sabotage.
"This government will not tolerate any entity or person causing distress or creating an artificial problem. Any entity not ready, able or willing to work within the framework of the laws of Kenya is invited to vacate this market promptly," she added.
She said the government had held numerous meetings with oil marketers to address any concerns and offered firm assurances to honour any payment obligations in hopes that the situation would self-correct. However, she said, the crisis still continued.
"We have decided as government that this isn't acceptable. This is deliberate economic sabotage and a capital crime."
