NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 28 – The government has denounced a report published on a local daily claiming that motorists overpaid Sh16 billion under a fuel deal with Gulf firms as well as Sh47 billion spent by the National Treasury on fuel subsidies.
State Department of Petroleum PS Mohamed Liban, in a statement, said that the importation of refined petroleum products is governed by the Petroleum Regulations, 2023, which include a Government-to-Government (G-to-G) arrangement initiated on April 1, 2023, aimed at alleviating USD liquidity challenges and stabilising the Kenya Shilling.
The Ministry noted that while the arrangement includes financing costs due to extended credit terms, this approach was necessary to counteract severe dollar liquidity issues and stabilise the economy.
The arrangement has reportedly helped in reducing the depreciation of the Kenya Shilling from highs of Sh160 to approximately Sh120 against the USD.
The government now insists that the G-to-G arrangement was implemented at a time when Kenya was grappling with serious dollar liquidity issues, which had in turn negatively affected the value of the Kenya Shilling against the dollar.
“At the time, the Federal Reserve rate was at its highest in 22 years leading to capital flight from frontier markets which included Kenya. It had been forecasted that the Kenya Shilling would reach a low of KShs. 190 to 200 per USD if status quo was maintained,” read the statement by Liban in part.
Liban maintained that subsidies on refined petroleum products were removed in 2022, and instead, a petroleum pump price stabilisation framework funded by the Petroleum Development Levy Fund has been implemented to a tune of Sh44 billion.
The government had in 2023 entered the G-to-G deal with three foreign firms, including Emirates National Oil, Abu Dhabi National Oil, and Saudi Aramco, in an arrangement ostensibly aimed at aiding Kenya procure fuel using the shilling.
