Kenyans were hit hard Thursday when they woke up to historical record prices of fuel in the latest review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
Diesel users were the most affected at the pump when its price hit a record high of Ksh.165 per litre, representing a 17.8 percentage point jump from Ksh.140 in August review.
It was followed by Super Petrol whose price skyrocket by 12.6 percent to retail at Ksh.179.30 per litre.
Kerosene on the other hand, went up by 15.3 percent to retail at Ksh.147.94 from Ksh.127.94 per litre.
According to EPRA, the subsidy for Super Petrol had been removed, but a subsidy of Ksh.20.82/litre and Ksh.26.25/litre had been retained for Diesel and Kerosene respectively.
The prices are inclusive of the 8 per cent Value Added tax in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2018, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2020 and the revised rates for excise duty for inflation as per Legal Notice No.194 of 2020.
This comes a day after President William Ruto said that the government will shelve fuel subsidy programme that had been put in place by his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
“On fuel subsidy alone, taxpayers have spent Ksh.144 billion, including Ksh.60 billion in the last four months alone. If the subsidy continues to the end of the financial year, it will cost taxpayers Sh280 billion, equivalent to the entire national government development budget,” said President Ruto.
The fuel prices became effective Thursday midnight and will stay in force till October 15, 2022.
