The Ministry of Mines and Energy on Monday announced an increase in the price of petrol and diesel for the month of June 2022.

In a media statement availed to Nampa, the ministry said petrol prices will increase by N.dollars 2.50 per litre, while diesel will go up by N.dollars 1.50 per litre, effective 01 June 2022.

The increase means pump petrol prices in Walvis Bay will now be N.dollars 20.40 per litre, while diesel will be N.dollars 21.43 per litre.

The ministry attributed the rise in the prices of fuel to the current turmoil in the oil and gas industries, which have seen global gasoline and diesel prices increasing to record levels without any sign of dropping.

The statement added that another reason for the increase is the significant fall in refining levels since 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The world demand for oil has been picking up immensely after the outbreak of the pandemic, but the global supply has been failing to catch up. Oil markets are also leaning upon the upward pricing trend because of the pending import ban by the European Union on Russia,” the statement added.

The ministry stated that the exchange rate figures for the period of 01-20 May 2022 show that the Namibian dollar recorded a huge depreciation against the United States dollar and this entails that the business of conducting international transactions is more expensive.

“The ministry recorded massive under-recoveries of the two products (N.dollars 2.80 cents and N.dollars 1.56 cents for petrol and diesel respectively) which were recorded after the ministry tried to assist the consumers by implementing temporary reduction on fuel levies last month,” the statement added.

These under-recoveries will be covered by the National Energy Fund on behalf of the consumers through the fuel equalisation levy, the statement concluded.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency