How Kenya’s petrol deal with gulf states backfired
Lessons from Kenya's failing petrol swap deal

Key questions this article answers:

  1. Like Nigeria, the Kenyan government has removed the petrol subsidy. How have prices changed, and how has this impacted the value of the shilling?

  2. The Kenyan government entered into an agreement with the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates governments for fuel supply. What’s the impact on the Kenyan economy?

 

On the 15th of September 2022, a day after Kenya’s President Ruto's speech on the unsustainability of the petrol subsidy and two days after his swearing-in ceremony, Kenyans woke up to higher petrol prices. 

 


Petrol prices per litre in Nairobi, went from 159.12 Kenyan shillings (KES) to 179.3 KES. But since then, thanks to the government’s Finance Act, VAT on petrol has gone from 8% to 16%, and currently, Nairobi residents pay 194.68 KES (₦1,084 or $1.37) per litre of petrol. 

 

As shown in the table above, the second highest component after the landing cost

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Noelle Okwedy

Noelle Okwedy

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