 East Africa faces crises as fuel, commodity prices go up raising the cost of living |
| Motorists push their car to a petrol station |
NAIROBI, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — It has been a week of crises in East Africa, characterized by shortages of fuel and rising prices of consumer goods, as the region continued to shake off COVID-19 blues to revive state economies.I
Many areas have recently experienced biting fuel shortages and, where the commodity is available, the price has risen to prohibitive levels.
The cost of living is rising. Inflation is at 6.29 percent in Kenya, 3.2 percent in Uganda, 4.2 percent in Rwanda, 3.8 percent in Tanzania, 13.3 percent in Burundi, 25 percent in South Sudan, and five percent in DR Congo.
In Uganda, where fuel supply has been disrupted since January, there are places where a liter of petrol costs $3.
Kenya was hit by a shortage this past week, crippling public transport services. Traders claimed the shortage had led to an increase in prices of fast-moving goods.
In Kenya, the fuel shortage was blamed on the failure of the government to pay oil marketers their subsidy. Even after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a supplementary budget for the payment of Ksh34 billion ($298 million) to the Petroleum Development Levy Fund (PDLF), the shortage continued on account of a dispute over the amount that the government owes the oil companies. Officials said it was Ksh13 billion ($112 million), but the companies claim they are owed more than Ksh20 billion ($173 million). — NNN-AGENCIES
