THE Petroleum Institute of East Africa, the professional body for oil and gas industry, claims that Kenya's motorists last year experienced the biggest fall in pump prices on the continent.
Citing data from Globalpetrolprices.com, PIEA SAID a litre of petrol in the country dropped highest in Africa at 12 per cent, followed by Mauritius and Ivory Coast at 10 and 8.8 per cent, respectively.
Tanzania recorded 8.2 per cent drop in petrol prices, placing it fourth on the continent.
In South Africa, petrol prices dropped by 1.4 per cent, while the price increased by 1.4 per cent in Uganda.
There are discrepancies in the data, however, which compared fuel prices in 99 countries across the world.
For example, the retail prices are given in the local currencies of the respective countries as opposed to the dollar, making it difficult to establish the exact drop in fuel cost.
“Kenya is one of the top four countries in Africa which posted the lowest petroleum prices in the last one year, notwithstanding the increases in taxes and levies as well as the widely recognised supply chain inadequacies,” PIEA chairman Powell Maimba said last week.
Consumers have, however, remained dissatisfied with the reduction in monthly fuel price reviews by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The Consumer Federation of Kenya has accused ERC of dragging its feet in reflecting the drop in global crude oil prices.
Kenya imports refined petroleum products since shutting the Kenya Petroleum Refineres Ltd in September 2013.
Last year, the World Bank also faulted the ERC's fuel pricing formula.