Bereng Mpaki
THE price of petrol will tomorrow decrease by 25 lisente while that of diesel will remain unchanged, the Petroleum Fund said on Friday.
These latest petroleum price adjustments mean petrol93 will cost M16, 35 per litre while petrol95 will cost M16, 55 per litre. The price of illuminating paraffin will decrease by 10 lisente to M12 per litre. Diesel remains unchanged at M16, 65 per litre.
The price decreases come against the background of the November 2021 increases which saw the price petrol93 go up by M1, 25 while petrol95 went by M1, 30.
Diesel50 by M1, 40 while paraffin had increased by M1, 10.
“The Petroleum Fund Secretariat wishes to inform the public that the prices of petroleum products will be adjusted effective from Monday 6 December 2021,” Petroleum Fund executive secretary, Thato Mohasoa, said on Friday.
“The pump prices of both grades of petrol (petrol93 and petrol95) will be decreased by 25 lisente per litre and the pump price of illuminating paraffin will be decreased by 10 lisente per litre. The pump price of diesel50 will remain unchanged for now.”
Mr Mohasoa also cautioned fuel dealers against charging exorbitant. He said they should charge the gazetted prices, failing which they would be prosecuted.
“The Petroleum Fund appeals to all retailers to charge proper prices because it is illegal to charge prices that are different from the gazetted ones.
“This appeal comes from past observations that some retailers would continue charging higher prices than the ones that had been set. Any retailer who will be found charging prices in contravention of these newly set prices, shall be prosecuted accordingly.
“The public is further made aware that they can report non-compliance on the toll-free number 80022004.”
The fuel prices have been steadily rising with the wholesale price of paraffin have gone up from M5, 85 to M11 in the period from since April 2020 to October 2021. This represents a cumulative 88 percent increase in that period.
In that same period, the retail price of petrol93 rose by 65 percent from M9, 30 to M15, 35.
The retail price of diesel increased from by 40 percent from M10, 90 to M15, 25 during the same period.
The increases have been in line with World bank forecasts that soaring crude oil prices will result in net fuel importers like Lesotho hiking energy prices by at least 80 percent this year.
The energy prices will only start stabilising in the second half of next year, the World Bank has predicted.