Escalating fuel prices cause panic

It is becoming very clear that we should all brace for hard times to come, evidenced by the ever-increasing prices of commodities. Food prices have been increasing so fast that it has become difficult to budget for household groceries.

Nowadays it is not uncommon to purchase an item for a certain commodity and return to the shops in a week, to find the same item had gone up by a significant amount of money.

Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) last week announced yet another fuel price increase, which followed yet another rise that came into effect on March 29. Hardly two months later on May 12 boom, BERA announced yet another increase, which came into effect at a minute past midnight on May 13.

BERA in its statement explained: “… since February 2022, the main driver of international oil prices has been the Russia-Ukraine conflict that threatens global crude oil supplies. Oil prices have surged more than 30% since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The increase in international oil prices has a direct impact on local fuel prices since Botswana is a net importer of petroleum products. The review of prices by the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority points to the need to adjust local pump prices to align with international prices.

However, the public is reminded of government’s commitment to continuously cushion consumers against high prices of fuel. Therefore, the country’s pump prices are still relatively lower compared to the region.”

Well, it is understandable that many factors necessitated the increases but ...

Batswana are struggling, workers have not had salary increases in many many years. Unemployment rate is also high and likely to get higher. Comparing our fuel prices to our neighbours’ without considering other factors does not help the situation.

It is becoming harder and harder for Batswana to afford bare necessities. The situation on the ground is really bad, and if government does not come up with creative ways to mitigate the situation, things will go from bad to worse.

So many families go to bed hungry, and most motorists used to afford to fuel their cars to go to work or continue with their daily hustle! The country had a total of five petrol increases last year, and so far in 2022, we are standing at two. Now people have started panicking!

We may be going back to the times when cars were not for everyone, but for the rich only.

In the meantime, let’s also start considering cost-sharing and maybe come up with creative ways of tightening our belts. Let’s share the commute to share the cost of fuel.