Economic analysts have commended the latest fuel price hike by the Zimbabwe Energy and Regulatory Authority (ZERA).
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) CEO, Christopher Mugaga believes that it was not going to be sustainable for the economy if the government had continued to subsidise fuel. He said:
I think the move by Zera is applaudable in the sense that government was now heavily subsidizing the commodity which would be unsustainable for the economy.
An independent economic analyst, Kipson Gundani said local fuel prices had fallen behind the regional average, hence they had to be reviewed upwardly. He said:
… fuel price adjustment was necessary for Zimbabwe from several perspectives like when you compare the absolute price levels obtaining in the country are not comparable to the region.
On Sunday, 5 April 2020, ZERA increased the retail price of petrol from $18.66 to $21.77 while that of diesel was hiked from $18.25 to $21.52.