Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene prices to rise after tax adjustment

Petrol prices are set to rise by Ksh.1.12 per litre effective from Saturday at midnight following the adjustment of the rate of excise duty by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

Meanwhile, the cost of diesel and kerosene is set to increase by 58 cents respectively.

On Friday, KRA gazetted changes to the annualized excise duty rate, increasing it by 4.94 per cent in line with the average inflation rate across the 2019/20 financial year.

The adjustment triggered the calculation of tax for the supply of 31 consumer products including all three fuel products.

For instance the amount of excise duty levied on regular petrol increased to Ksh.21.52 from Ksh.20.51 while the rate of duty charged on kerosene rose to Ksh.11.37 from Ksh.10.84.

A litre of petrol in Nairobi is now expected to cost Ksh.106.55 while the price of petrol and kerosene will move to Ksh.95.09 and Ksh.83.73 respectively.

In effecting the changes before the routine adjustment to maximum pump prices done on every 14 day of the month, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) avoided the backdating of the changes which has previously caused confusion in the calculation of tax due to the KRA by oil marketing companies (OMCs).

EPRA is expected to adjust the maximum-pump prices for all three fuels in another 12 days.

Fuel prices are set to trend downwards in the October 14 review going by the recent slump in international crude prices across the month of September.