GOVERNMENT NOT SUBSIDISING FUEL – ERB
JANUARY 23, 2024
The Energy Regulation Board -ERB- has dispelled some media reports that Government has been subsidising fuel.
ERB Chairperson REYNOLDS BOWA says the reports are NOT true and that there has been NO subsidy on fuel.
Speaking to ZNBC News in an interview in Lusaka today, Mr. BOWA said the Board has been utilising money from the Strategic Reserve Fund since October 2023 to stabilise the fuel prices in the country.
He said this followed the sudden increase in the international price of fuel in September 2023 and that ERB took the decision to utilise the Strategic Reserve Fund to support price stabilisation.
Mr. BOWA said the decision was made in consultation with Oil Marketing Companies that the cost of transporting Petroleum Products in Zambia could be cushioned by the Strategic Reserve Fund.
He said the use of the Strategic Reserve Fund is authorised and this is the purpose for which it was created.
Mr. BOWA said that the Fund does NOT in any way constitute a subsidy.
He explained that the strategic reserve fund was set up in April, 2005 by the then MMD Government due to occasional fuel shortages in the country.
Mr. BOWA said the fund was operationalised by ERB in December 2005 and citizens contribute ONE Kwacha 50 ngwee for every litre of fuel bought.
He said various projects have been undertaken utilising the Fund such as fuel depots in all provincial centres in the country.
ZNBC
