NEW FUEL STOCK TO TRIGGER REDUCED PRICES
NEW
stocks of fuel which will be bought cheaply following a reduction in international crude prices should trigger a significant reduction of the pump price in Zambia, chairperson of Energy Forum Zambia, Johstone Chikwanda has said.
Mr Chikwanda said it was inevitable that the fuel pump price reduced because government would spend less on the upcoming procurement if global prices do not suddenly surge.
He said there was no fuel pump price reduction currently because the country still had the old stock.
Mr Chikwanda said Government reviews the fuel pump price every 60 days when the old stock finished.
He said in an interview yesterday, it was likely that the fuel pump price would be reduced because new stock would be bought at cheaper price on the international market.
“According to the policy we have in the country the pump price is reviewed every 60 days which is two months.
This is a better cycle than most of the countries in the region who review the pump price every one month, in some countries prices go up or go down every month but us we use 60 days.
“It takes about 45 to 60 days for a ship load which has been ordered like today to arrive at the port and transport the consignment to the country. So the consignment we are dealing with at the moment is the consignment which came in before the market prices crashed, so this is why we have not benefitted from what is happening on the market.
“Now my expectation personally which is my own opinion is that because we are constantly procuring what is being bought, now would be procured at a cheaper price, so
I expect that the price could go down at the next price review season,” he said.
Mr Chikwanda said the fuel pump price may not go down according to people’s expectations because of the continued depreciation of the Kwacha.
He however assured of a price reduction in the next price review session.
Recently the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) announced in its statement that it would not reduce the fuel pump price.
The ERB stated that the reduced crude oil price on the international market had been swalloed by the continued depreciation of the Kwacha.
Lukuku made the admission yesterday when he opened his defence before Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate Lameck Mwale in a matter he has been found with a case to answer for expressing or showing ridicule or contempt for persons because of race.
In cross examination by public prosecutor Stuyvesant Malambo, Lukuku said he compared China to former German leader Adolf Hitler but that he does not hate Chinese nationals.
He said he is a peace loving Zambian and that at one time former President Rupiah Banda sent him to China where he spent two months.
Lukuku said he made a one- man protest against China as a republic in 2018 when there was local and international news that the Zambian government was in the process of mortgaging national assets like Zesco Limited and Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation to Chinese businesses.
He said on September 5, 2018 police apprehended him when he marched from Long Acres roundabout to Hilltop Hospital and detained him on grounds that his activity amounted to breach of peace.
Lukuku said his action was not well received by Patriotic Front sympathisers, and singled out businessman Ibrahim Mwamba who sells motor vehicles at Northmead where Lukuku too does his accounts consultancy business.
He said prior to Mr. Mwamba testifying as third prosecution witness in the matter, he harassed and warned him that he would be sorted out.
Lukuku said when the police apprehended him on September 5, 2018 they confiscated his mobile phone and kept it until November 2018 when they formally seized it.
He said he did not put a security password on the phone and that he did not understand the messages against Chinese nationals which the police told him that he had posted to five whatsapp groups.
After Lukuku finished his testimony, his lawyer Mulambo Haimbe told the court that in view of what the accused person had said in his defence, he would consider calling some witnesses after which the case was adjourned to May 28, 2020.