Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has confirmed that fuel prices are set to remain unchanged until the next review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) scheduled for June 14.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Monday, May 18, during an interview held as the ongoing matatu strike disrupted transport across the country over fuel costs, Mbadi said the government is closely monitoring the fuel situation but maintained that prices will remain steady for the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is monitoring the situation. We have the next review by June 14. The government is not sensitive enough to look at that review and see the impact it will have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, he noted that the government can already determine the expected direction of petroleum prices ahead of the June review, citing that fuel shipments have already been loaded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will look at the subsidy kitty of Ksh5 billion and if that is not sufficient, and if it leads to higher prices, then we may consider reducing VAT again. If we reduce VAT, we will have to look at what to cut in terms of expenditure, and that is a whole-of-government approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Further, Mbadi urged EPRA to revise its communication approach ahead of next month\u2019s review to avoid shocking Kenyans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would personally advise EPRA and the Ministry of Energy to communicate better with Kenyans as we approach June, so that they are not caught by surprise. We have been used to situations where EPRA keeps us in the dark. Probably what EPRA needs to do now, learning from this experience, is to carry people along in terms of communication, revealing details such as projections, index price, premiums and government cushioning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mbadi added that the government will reconvene upon President William Ruto\u2019s return from Azerbaijan to explore further interventions to protect Kenyans from surging fuel costs.<\/p>\n
On the ongoing strike, Mbadi said it was uncalled for, urging against what he termed as emotional decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concern is that we are trying to solve a global problem by applying domestic means, which I think is not appropriate. In my view, the strike is completely uncalled for even though the prices of petroleum products have risen because we need to understand why these prices have gone up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CS noted that fuel prices would have been significantly higher if not for government interventions, explaining that while global diesel prices had increased by about 76 per cent since February 28, when the war between the United States and Iran broke out, prices in Kenya had risen by about 55 per cent over the same period.<\/p>\n
Mbadi has called for consensus following the ongoing transport sector paralysis. He noted that public concern over record-high pump prices is understandable, but cautioned that the continued disruption of transport services could worsen economic conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must debate and discuss soberly. The economy is going to be hit further, and when the economy is hit further, we have even fewer resources to subsidise prices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has confirmed that fuel prices are set to remain unchanged until the next review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) scheduled for June 14. Speaking on Monday, May 18, during an interview held as the ongoing matatu strike disrupted transport across the country over fuel costs, Mbadi said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":161257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-to-homepage"],"yoast_head":"\n