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Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration has announced a significant adjustment to the price of gas in the country. Starting from September 30, 2023, the price of a liter of gas will be set at 77.79 Ethiopian Birr.
A report by DW Amharic, published on Sunday, reveals that the price increase is over fivefold. A liter of gas (commonly referred to as benzine in Ethiopia) used to sell for 15.76 Ethiopian Birr.
White diesel has surged to 79.75 Ethiopian Birr per liter, while kerosene is now priced at 76.75 Birr.
The Ethiopian government had been subsidizing gas prices for over a year, and it remains unclear why it decided to end the subsidy when the cost of living in the country has become unbearable for the majority of Ethiopians.
Combined with the existing price inflation of other goods, the increase in gas prices is expected to place a heavy burden on the Ethiopian economy.
DW Amharic cited Alemayehu Kebede, an economist, who stated that the gas price hike will have a significant impact on both demand and supply within the country.
Fethawork Wondewossen, another Ethiopian economist, believes that increasing gas prices while the government claims to be working to reduce inflation in other goods is inconceivable.
The source also spoke to individuals in the capital involved in the transportation sector, who expressed concerns that the price hike will negatively affect both them and their clients.
The Ethiopian Statistics Service announced this week that the inflation rate for the month of August across the country reached 28.2 percent.
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A great start to reform the economy. Let the market system work its miracles by setting prices, directing investment and resource flows, managing family budgets and finances, and in general leading the economy. Government securocrats should not continue to mismanage the economy and create misery for the people; I would fire a lot of them to save money for the treasury and inject sigh of relief for the people.
It has always been a puzzle to me why scarce foreign exchange was used to subsidize private automobile operators. Subsidy to public transportations through less-than market prices for gasoline could have been understandable to control inflation, but that too could not have been sustainable due to severe foreign exchange shortages. Better to control inflation through none intrusive ways such as: encouraging people not to breed like animals that would lead to eventually reduce demand for particularly foods, letting the market system lead in increasing supply of goods that constitute the major sources of inflation, encouraging households to better manage their family budgets and priorities, etc, etc.
Its simple, the govt has run out of money b/c of the war
And they dont realy care about the people the lead.
Hi Koka,
I like your childish guess…. what do you mean?
Are you suggesting the government to continue paying for Idiots like you who buys 4 cars and do business while government is paying their bills? Government subsidize oil up to or more than 2.5 Billion dollar a year? for how long we spoil the drives in Ethiopia? do you know the international daily oil price? they need to get used to that… we need the money to be spent on Farmers and schools to get rid of poverty and confused politicians like the one we have across the country.
You are right, Teddy. Think about it: farmers, the poor, none-car owners, and in fact nearly all of the rest of Ethiopians have been subsidizing car owners for decades. And one can assume car owners are the “rich and middle class”, who should have been required able to pay the full market price of gasoline, lest they should not have purchased private cars. What the subsidy did (and does) was (is) encourage import of cars and gasoline (perhaps supporting special interest groups). Glaring mis-management of the economy!
Worku Belayneh
Thank you for your clear vision, we all should see things that way, at the end of the day it is our Ethiopia and we shouldn’t judge a government for doing its job in this specific case. I am very worried about our young/previous generation, they just like to oppose without understanding a given case.
good talk brother