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MBABANE – Do you want to escape from high fuel costs?

If so, then settle for collective transport and service your cars.

This was the advice given by Economist Thembinkosi Dube when asked on what consumers should do to escape the ever-escalating cost of fuel.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy on Wednesday announced new fuel prices, which effectively put a litre of petrol at an exorbitant E21.55, from E19.05 in April.

This is the first time in living memory that a litre of petrol in Eswatini costs above E20.

The price of fuel has been on a consistent upward trajectory since the start of the year, in response to a multitude of factors.

Unavoidable

Dube said the current situation was unavoidable, given that fuel prices tended to follow the world economics trends.

He said the best form of defence in the current situation was defense itself. He advised consumers to take only compulsory trips, and travel in groups to share petrol costs.

“A well serviced car is usually the most efficient in terms of fuel consumption. People who will fail to change their habits will have a serious problem, because the cost of travelling will be high going forward,” he said.

Dube pointed out that what worked in developed countries was advanced public transport infrastructure, which allowed people to leave their cars at home, for their daily commutes.

He said government could work with the private sector in that regard, because clearly, if the fuel prices kept rising, some people would fail to cope.

Folly

“It will be folly to ask government to subsidise fuel prices, because it will the consumers themselves to foot the bill through taxes.

Even if government was to remove levies as a cushion, it could only be temporary.

As long as we were dependent on fuel imports, there is nothing we can do about the current situation,” he said.

Dube emphasised that the country and its people needed to adjust to the prevailing market forces.

If the necessary adjustments did not happen, he predicted an inevitable decline in economic activity.

A litre of petrol in neighbouring South Africa, which is a regular destination for most emaSwati, went well over E22 yesterday.